I'm Falling to Pieces
by luvscience
Summary: Beca and Chloe had a good thing going, at least that's what Beca thought. They moved to L.A. after graduating and Beca paid her dues while Chloe taught kids music. Beca's break had come and her music was being played everywhere. But apparently everything isn't ok. Her life, and heart, are shattered. Who's going to pick up the pieces? (slightly longer summary in story)
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Please don't hate me for this one…please. I think I actually hate myself a little for writing the beginning knowing where chapter 2 is heading but I couldn't get the damn thing out of my head. I really don't know for sure where this one is headed beyond the second chapter (which isn't even written yet), but I'm thinking it will end up as a Mitchsen end-game (but don't quote me on it yet as I haven't gotten past the first chapter or two in my mind). I heard "Breakeven" by The Script yesterday and while I've been trying to work on two of my ongoing chapter fics this monstrosity keeps rearing its ugly head in my brain so I had to get it out. I also agonized over using who I did with Chloe, but my mind kept coming back to it. I promise I'll make it up to everyone with a fluffy Bechloe piece soon. Really the only AU parts so far are that there was never a Jeca, she came out to him right away and he became one of her best friends and Beca and Aubrey became better friends than they showed in the movies (I assume it is mainly through her relationship with Chloe). So, Chapter one is the set-up, chapter 2 is when the shit hits the fan (so to speak).

Summary: Beca and Chloe had a good thing going, at least that's what Beca thought. They had moved to L.A. after graduating and Beca paid her dues while Chloe taught underprivileged kids music. Beca's big break had come and now her music was being played everywhere. But apparently everything isn't ok, as she finds out when she gets home from her first six week tour. Her life, and heart, are shattered. Who's going to help her pick up the pieces?

Rating: I'm going to try and keep this T, but no promises. If something happens, I'll change the rating then.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pitch Perfect or Pitch Perfect 2.

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Beca couldn't be happier; she was finally in L.A. working for a music label. Not only that, she was out here with her awesome girlfriend and her best guy friend. It hadn't taken Chloe long to find a job teaching music to underprivileged kids, something she had always wanted to do (that or be an exotic dancer). Jesse had gotten in the music department of a major studio. It was an entry level job, but it was what he had always wanted to do and he didn't have any issues with paying his dues just so he could work in the industry. The three of them figured that since they would only know each other at first, they should look for apartments in the same area. They got lucky and Jesse found a good deal on a one bedroom place a couple of blocks from Beca and Chloe's place.

The three of them were inseparable. They spent almost all of their free time together that first year. They explored L.A. at first, then they expanded their horizons and toured up and down the coast on the weekends. They ate most of their dinners together, switching between Jesse's place and the girls'.

After giving them a year to settle in to a routine, Beca decided to start trying to DJ again. After putting her name out there and sending some demos to clubs in the area, she finally got a trial gig, one weekend to impress the club manager and owners. She worked her ass off to make sure she developed a solid set and had a variety of song choices and mixes to use, depending on the feel of the crowd. She kicked ass. She came out of the booth on a 'high' Friday night after her set. It didn't take the management two nights to decide on using her to DJ on a regular basis, they offered her a weekend a month on the spot.

After six months, she started getting offers to do guest gigs at other clubs. She also started adding her own music to the mixes. She even got permission to use one of the studios at the label to make a few legitimate tracks for her sets. Sure, it cost her a full weekends pay to do it, but it was so worth it when she heard how they turned out.

Chloe was so supportive of her. She was so proud that Beca was doing what she always wanted to do and was doing so well in it. She came to every performance to watch her little DJ do her thing. She loved watching Beca in the booth, she looked so in her element up there, moving to the beat, working the controllers. Beca used a mixture of premade mixes and mixing on the fly when she DJ'd and Chloe loved watching her do her thing.

By the end of her second year of DJ'ing, Beca was getting offers to play almost every weekend. For the first year and a half, Chloe would be at every show. But when it started becoming three or four weekends a month, it was too much for her. She needed some downtime because while she loved working with the kids, they could be draining and sometimes by Friday she just needed a night to sit and relax, maybe binge watch a little Netflix. Chloe went from going to see Beca at every performance to only going out one or two nights a month. So while Beca loved the feeling of being in the booth, she missed her girlfriend more, so she always made sure that her and Chloe had at least one weekend a month where it was just them (and sometimes Jesse).

When her originals were well received in the clubs, Beca used some of the extra money from playing gigs to produce a few more tracks to use in her shows. She was up to a dozen original songs that she could use in her sets. Sometimes, when she looks back at things, she wishes she never would have made those damn tracks.

She invited her coworkers to join Chloe and Jesse at a club she was playing at one Friday night. She had it set up that she could use one of the VIP sections as part of her payment for the evening. She got a special thrill watching her girlfriend dance to her mixes, and Chloe didn't disappoint that night. She loved how she swayed to the music and was glad that she had Jesse there to dance with her so she didn't have to dance alone.

One of the producers she worked with really liked what he heard that night. He approached her and asked her if she had made some of the tracks. When she blushed and said that she had, all he responded with "Impressive," but left it at that. What she didn't know is that he had an A&R rep friend at the label and played her a snippet of one of her tracks and told her to show up at the club the next night and she wouldn't be disappointed.

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After her show the next night Beca came sprinting through the door to their apartment, barely taking time to kick off her shoes in the entryway. She ran into the living room, sliding to a stop on the hardwood floors. Grinning like an idiot, she looks at the two people sitting on the couch watching Netflix, "Oh good Jesse you're here, I don't have to call you to come over."

The two of them looked at her with amused looks. Jesse raised an eyebrow, "I take it you have something to tell us?"

Beca nodded enthusiastically. Chloe laughed when she didn't say anything, "Well are you going to tell us or do we have to guess?"

Beca jumped up and down, "They want to offer me a record deal."

Chloe looked shocked and excited at the same time. She jumped up off the couch and grabbed her girlfriend's hands, spinning around in a circle with her like they were playing Ring Around the Rosie with her, "I'm so proud of you Beca. You've worked so hard for this."

She stopped spinning around and slipped her hand behind Beca's neck and pulled her in for a deep kiss. When Jesse coughed after a minute looking surprisingly uncomfortable, the two girls broke the kiss and Beca rested her head against Chloe's, "Thanks Babe."

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Beca sat and talked with Chloe about their options. Option one was that she could quit her job and work on the recording full time and still do some DJ'ing on the weekends to help pay the bills. She was getting a small advance, but it would probably just be enough to cover her studio time. If her music career didn't go anywhere, then she would have to find another producing job and probably move back a step in that career path. Option two was for her to do most of the producing herself in the evenings and on weekends and keep working at her current job. This had an added benefit of her having to pay a smaller percentage to a full time producer. She would have to cut way back on her DJ gigs, but it would be worth it in the long run.

The two girls discussed things most of Sunday afternoon and even Jesse got into the discussion when he stopped by later that afternoon. They decided to go with option two. Beca just wasn't confident that her music would be accepted that well in the mainstream. Sure, it worked great in her sets at the clubs, but as a single on the radio she wasn't ready to bet the farm on it. The studio had given her a year to work on her first album and she could use some of the tracks that she had already recorded, with some polishing (of course). Beca thought that would be plenty of time to do it this way.

At first, things were going well. Beca would work on the album one or two nights a week and one day during the weekend. She cut back to DJ'ing only one weekend a month, at her original club. But when three months became six months and she only had half an album of workable tracks, she started to get a little worried. She started working in the studio more and two nights a week became three and then four. One shorter weekend day became a full day and then both days in the studio. She cut out her DJ'ing completely just so she could spend a little time with Chloe. But that didn't help her guilt every time she came home late from the studio to find the redhead asleep on the couch. She'd wake her up gently and apologize for being so late.

One night she woke her up and apologized again. Chloe just smiled at her and caress her cheek, "I know baby, but this is your dream." But the smile didn't reach her eyes and that broke Beca's heart.

Beca hugged her girlfriend tightly, "I'm going to so make this up to you when the album is finished Chloe Beale. I promise."

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At the ninth month, the studio set a release date for just after a year of production and released the first single from the album. To Beca's surprise, the single jumped to number six on the charts within a matter of weeks. She took that Sunday off to spend the entire day celebrating with Chloe. The album wasn't finished yet, but she really needed time with her girlfriend. She took her out to a nice restaurant for dinner and then they took a walk along the beach. She might have been imagining it, but Chloe seemed a little distant the whole evening.

Six weeks later, the studio released the second single from the album. While it didn't do quite as well as the first single, it still managed to break into the top ten, peaking at number nine on the charts. That's when the studio first started talking about a promotional tour to kick off the album release.

The studio eventually decided that a small tour would help album sales and given how well the singles were doing that they could come close to filling some medium-sized venues. They reserved the option to cancel the tour depending on the opening month of sales of the album. The tour was set to start five weeks after the album dropped. It turns out they really didn't have to worry about cancelling the tour. The album and third single dropped on the same day. The album debuted at number 19 on the charts and the single shot up to number four by its third week on the charts.

Beca took the entire week after the album dropped off. She had to take an extended leave from her producer position with the label so that she could tour and decided she'd start it a little early. It seemed like she started to connect with Chloe again, being able to hear more about her kids and what she'd been able to do with them over the past year. Sure, they had talked about it but Beca just didn't feel like she was able to give Chloe the time she deserved to talk about what she loved to do. So she tried to make up for it by making the week be all about Chloe. She knew that they wouldn't have made it through the past year without Jesse being there for Chloe, so she tried to include him in some of their activities that week, but he always had something else going on. So felt like they were at a really good place at the end of that week.

After the wonderful week with Chloe, Beca had to go back at it just as hard as before. She had four weeks to get her tour performance down, staging, lighting, rehearsals with the musicians, everything. The first week wasn't so bad, typical eight hour days while they brainstormed and worked on some ideas. After that, it was twelve to sixteen hour non-stop days getting everything perfect.

Beca was relieved when they decided to call it early (at only 9 p.m.) on the last Saturday before the tour started. She wanted to get home and spend a little time with Chloe. They had both been so tired lately that they really hadn't had much quality time together. When she was still a couple of blocks away from the apartment, she realized that she hadn't texted Chloe to let her know she was coming home early. So, she quickly shot her a text while she was stopped at a red light that she got off early and would be home in a few minutes. She was practically skipping when she got to the door to the building. She smiled through the window at the guy coming down the hall towards her. She opened the door for him, "Hey Jesse, leaving so soon? I just got here."

Jesse gave her a weak smile, "Yah, it's been a long week for me and I dozed off on your couch. I figured my bed was calling to me."

Beca punched his arm playfully, "Wimp, its only 9:30 on a Saturday. Come on, stay awhile."

Jesse smirked, "Nope, I am a wimp and my bed is calling. Talk to you tomorrow."

Beca shrugged and called, "Goodnight," to his retreating form and he threw a wave back over his shoulder. She then bounced up the stairs two at a time to her apartment. She kicked her shoes off and bounded into the living room and plopped down on the couch next to a bedraggled looking Chloe. Her clothes were wrinkled and her hair was messy. Beca kissed her, "I suppose you fell asleep too."

Chloe looked at her confused, so Beca clarified, "I just talked with Jesse and he explained that he fell asleep on our couch. By the looks of it, so did you."

Chloe nodded, "Yah, I had a tough day with the kids. Roger just wouldn't behave and I had to send him to the Principal's office. I hate doing that to those kids. I must have dozed off watching Netflix."

Beca pulled her into a hug, "Well I hope you're not too tired because I need some Chloe time."

Chloe cuddled up into her side, yawning, "Well as long as it's cuddling right here on the couch I can give you all the Chloe time you want. But I'm too wiped to do much else tonight baby, sorry."

Beca pulled the redhead tighter against her side, kissing the top of her head, "I'll take whatever I can get. This will be over soon, I promise."


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I'm almost afraid these author notes are going to be longer than the chapter itself, but I do feel I have to address some things here (this was written before I started the chapter, fyi) and as hakunamatatahum indicated, I'm not trying to be whiney, just trying to explain some things so people understand where I'm coming from – because in the end, I will keep writing my stories as they want to be told and hope that you continue reading them.

First, a heartfelt thanks to everyone who read the story and especially those that submitted a review (both good and bad). To submit a review, either way, means that a) you read the chapter and b) it elicited enough feelings for you to submit a review.

For those that suggest this is OOC for Chloe, technically I don't believe it is. From PP and PP2 we know that Chloe is either bisexual or bi-curious. She is a very touchy-feely individual. She likes attention from people (that may just be my take on her). From what we see in PP or PP2 can we actually say that she wouldn't cheat on someone? That she wouldn't fall out of love with Beca? It may be OOC with some headcannons, but not necessarily from movie cannon.

I posted all of the reviews that I received because I believe that everyone should be able to say their piece. However, I don't know why people keep shouting that Chloe is cheating on and lying to Beca based on Chapter 1. I actually had to go back and reread the first chapter to double check this, but at no point in the chapter is there explicit evidence that Chloe is cheating on Beca and/or lying to her. Can we assume that the two of them will break up (based on the summary, I'm pretty sure that's a given). Can we assume Jesse has something to do with it (based on the A/N we can assume so). But did she just fall out of love with Beca? Did her and Jesse fall in love but not act on it? Did her and Jesse just kiss? Did they have sex? All of those are actual possibilities based on how the first chapter was written (first rule of writing, if you don't know what's going to happen, don't write yourself into a corner). For example, the scene where Beca comes home early from getting ready for the tour. Was Jesse really just tired? Was he feeling guilty because he has feelings for Chloe? Was he trying to get out of there because Beca interrupted a make-out session between him and Chloe? Was he bailing because he was guilt ridden about having sex with Chloe? Based on what was written, which one of those is the answer? I haven't even decided on exactly how it was going to happen yet (I still have a soft spot for Chloe in my heart and I don't know where I'm comfortable going with her on this) and I'm trying not to let the reviews bias my writing. Now, depending on the outcome of chapter 2, I can see people rightfully complaining And no, I'm not telling about it in the A/N because I want you to find out as you read the story, not before you even start (that's like reading the last page of a book before you start).

Why I chose to do it with Bechloe breaking up and someone else picking up the pieces. Honestly, because I don't think anyone could shatter Beca's heart like Chloe could and because it actually was closest to cannon that Beca and Chloe would be together at the end of PP2 where this starts.

To those of you who don't like where I'm going with the Beca/Chloe/Jesse angle at the beginning of this story, thank you for reading this far (if you are still reading) and I hope you continue to read the story, but if not I understand your feelings and respect them (and please respect mine to keep writing this story).

Shoes – your two reviews actually made me laugh, thank you.

I don't have time or space to personally thank everyone who commented (more comments than my entire first multi-chapter fic and getting close to the most comments of any story, just in the first chapter), but again – thank you to everyone (and I do mean everyone) who took the time to read my story and submit a comment on it (good and bad). For that matter, thank you to everyone who read/is reading this story, not just those that commented on it.

Oh, there's a change in rating, from T to M. I just imagined both Beca and Aubrey dropping too many f*bombs over the next chapter or two to keep it T.

Alright, that's enough from me – on to the story.

**Trigger Warning** - there is some form of cheating in this chapter

Rating: Changed from T to M (language)

Disclaimer: I don't own anything having to do with Pitch Perfect or Pitch Perfect 2.

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Before Beca knew it, it was time to leave on her tour. She kept telling herself that it was only six weeks, but six weeks was five weeks and four days longer than she'd spent away from Chloe since the end of her freshman year and five weeks and six days longer since they started dating. She knew she was being melodramatic, but she didn't want to leave Chloe now that it was actually time. She wished that the tour was in the summer so Chloe could come with, but she understood that Chloe couldn't leave her job, or more importantly her kids, for six weeks.

So she stood in the entryway, just holding Chloe while she waited for the Uber to show. Chloe was crying against her shoulder, so Beca pulled back just a bit so she could wipe the tears off with her thumb, "Shhh, it's ok Chlo, it's only for six weeks and we can Skype every day. I know it's not the same as being here, but at least we get to actually see each other."

Chloe hid her face back on Beca's shoulder, crying again, "I know, I'm just going to miss you."

The Uber arrived so Beca grabbed the only bag she had left to take to the studio and kissed Chloe softly. She walked backwards out the door, taking one last look at her girlfriend before she left, "I love you Chloe Beale. I'll see you in six weeks and then we'll take some time for us." The tears continued to stream down Chloe's cheeks as she just nodded at the brunette.

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The tour was going great; not every show was sold out, but they were close in most cases. Beca was reminded of how much she enjoyed performing in front of people, she didn't realize how much she missed the Bella performances. This was different than DJ'ing where she was tucked into a booth playing recorded tracks, this was her out there in front of everyone singing to the audience and playing the guitar or piano. The only thing that would make this better is if she were on stage with the Bellas, or for that matter, just her and Chloe.

She tried Skyping with Chloe every day, really she did. But some days their schedules just wouldn't overlap. Beca would be free during the day while Chloe was in class and then she wouldn't get done with the concert until late so Chloe would be in bed. She even resorted to getting up early so she could at least say good morning to Chloe before she went to class. But even then, some days Chloe left for work early so she could prepare for the day. So Beca resorted to texting the beautiful redhead as much as she could. She would text her everything about her day, the big events and the little things. Chloe would text back when she could, things about her day and her kids at school.

Beca couldn't stand being away from Chloe. The time she spent away from the redhead while touring made her realize how much Chloe meant to her. So one rainy afternoon when they had a day layover between shows, Beca walked through the local mall. She stopped at all of the jewelry stores looking for the perfect ring. She thought she might have found the one in the second store, but she went through every store there to make sure. The saleslady smiled when she came back to the store an hour later and pulled out the ring she had been looking at. It was a 1.25 ct marquise cut diamond in a simple channel band with three smaller round diamonds on either side. It was perfect for Chloe, simple yet sophisticated. She smiled to herself as she tucked the ring box into the pocket of her jeans, feeling the box press against her leg with every step.

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Chloe was dying inside. She couldn't keep up this deception. She wanted to tell Beca that she didn't love her anymore months ago. Jesse had convinced her that they should wait until after the record was released, then the news wouldn't affect her work. Then this damn tour came up and Jesse had the same logic; it would ruin Beca's tour if they told her beforehand. But she hated it, she still cared for the small brunette and keeping this from her was killing her. Jesse was right, but she also thought he was scared about what this would do to Beca so he was stalling.

They didn't mean to fall in love, they didn't plan it. It just happened. At first, it was the three of them hanging out and then Beca started working more and it was just the two of them, Jesse and Chloe, more and more. They both realized that they weren't into the club scene that much anymore, but would rather be home on the couch watching a good movie.

So Friday and Saturday nights ended up becoming their night to cuddle on the couch and watch movies, without Beca's commentary about how predictable they were. It started with them on opposite sides of the couch, sharing a bowl of popcorn between them. Then there was the night that Chloe was feeling chilled and they only had one blanket, so she cuddled up against Jesse so they could share. That became their regular positions after that, Chloe cuddled up against Jesse's side, his arm wrapped around her. After that, Chloe couldn't deny it to herself anymore, she had feelings for Jesse.

It wasn't just the weekend movie nights, it was the walks to get coffee at the local coffee shop. It was the dinners they ate together most nights. It was them taking care of the other when they got sick. It was all of their conversations in the evening. It was all the little things that Beca was missing out on.

So she called him over one Saturday afternoon while Beca was in the studio and sat him down in the kitchen. She sat opposite from him, looking down at her hands as they fidgeted on the table. Jesse reached over and put his hand over hers, "Ok Chloe, what's got you so nervous."

She looked up at him, he was looking at her with such concern, "I hope you don't hate me for this, but I have to know the answer. I'm pretty sure I'm falling in love with you and I wanted to know if it's just me, or…" she let her sentence trail off.

Jesse looked at her with a suddenly serious look, "Are you sure Chloe?"

Chloe looked crestfallen, "Ummm, yah I'm sure but I understand that you don't, so if we can just forget this ever…"

She didn't get to finish her sentence before Jesse was on his knees next to her, his hands on her cheeks pulling her in for a tender kiss. After they broke the kiss, Jesse looked at her with awe in his eyes, "Thank God, I thought it was just me." Chloe laughed through the happy tears that were falling down her cheeks.

They decided then that they would wait to tell Beca when the record was released. It was only a few weeks, they could do that. They kept telling themselves it was for Beca's own good to wait, but some of it was their own guilt at hurting her like this. Chloe held firm that they wouldn't go any further than kissing, because she didn't want to be _that_ kind of cheater. It was bad enough what they were already doing. Then the tour was announced and the two of them decided that they could keep up the charade for another couple of weeks, for Beca of course.

Then there was that damn night that Beca came home early from prepping for the tour. Thank God she texted before she got there. Things between her and Jesse were getting kind of heated on the couch, the movie they had started watching completely forgotten. If Beca hadn't come home early Chloe wasn't sure if her resolve to keep it at just kissing would have held that night. She felt so guilty that she almost broke down and told Beca when she got home, but she was just being so sweet that she couldn't bear to do it then.

It got a little better after Beca left for the tour because Chloe didn't have to pretend to her face. It was easier through text messages and brief Skype conversations. As the tour was nearing its completion, Chloe and Jesse talked about how to tell Beca. Chloe decided it would be best if it was just her. She'd tell her as soon as she got home because she couldn't lie and spend the night with her, because she would want more than Chloe could give her now.

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Beca came bounding through the door after six weeks away. She couldn't wait to hold Chloe in her arms. She couldn't wait to get down on one knee and ask her to marry her. She kicked her shoes off and ran towards the light in the kitchen, jumping from the doorway and sliding across the linoleum to bump up against Chloe sitting at the table, "Hey there gorgeous, miss me?" She looked down at the redhead and noticed the tears just being held back, "Shhh, what is it Chloe? I'm back now and I'm not leaving you again for a long time."

The tears started to fall freely down Chloe's cheeks as she stared at the brunette. Now that she was actually here, the words wouldn't come. Beca took her hands in hers, "Come on Chloe, you're scaring me. What is it?"

Chloe looked down at the table, "I'm so sorry Beca, I'm not in love with you anymore."

Beca dropped her hands and collapsed into a chair, trying to hold back the tears. This had to be a cruel fucking joke. She looked up at Chloe and knew that it wasn't a joke. She couldn't hold back the tears any longer, "What? When?"

Chloe reached out and tried to take Beca's hand but the smaller girl pulled in angrily away, "It's been happening for a while now. We were just growing apart."

Beca looked at her angrily, "Growing apart? Because I was working so much? Working hard on this first album, with a schedule that you suggested, so that we would be able to spend more time together in the future."

Chloe responded weakly, "I didn't mean for it to happen like this."

Beca glared at her, "Is there someone else?" Chloe couldn't look at her, she just nodded her head. Beca threw her head back, looking up at the ceiling, "Do I know this person?" Chloe still didn't look up, but nodded again. Beca looked hard at her, looked at her as if she stared hard enough she would talk. Finally she growled at the redhead, "Well are you going to tell me who?"

Chloe whispered into the table, "We really didn't mean for…"

She didn't get to finish the sentence before Beca pushed her chair back from the table, getting to her feet, "I'm going to kill that fucker. I trusted him. He was my fucking best friend."

She was walking towards the door when Chloe shot out of the chair and grabbed her arm, "Please, don't. We didn't do it on purpose, it just happened. We didn't even sleep together. I'm so sorry Beca, I never wanted to hurt you. I'm so so sorry." By the time she was finished, Chloe was almost sobbing. Beca jerked her arm away from the redhead, punching the wall in frustration.

Beca walked back to the kitchen table, pulling something out of her pocket. She flipped open the ring box and set it down on the table. Chloe looked at the ring and fell to the floor, "Oh shit, Beca no. Fuck, fuck, fuck. I'm so sorry."

Beca just looked at her as she stood next to the ring, her face an emotionless mask, "Take your sorry's and get the fuck out."

Chloe looked up at her with a pitiful look on her face, but after a few seconds she just nodded and got up. Beca watched the girl she loves stand up and walk out the door, tears streaming down Chloe's face. She stood there a minute, staring at the door. Then she just collapsed to the ground, holding her knees to her chest and sobbed uncontrollably.

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A/N: This is a good breaking point in the story line and I'm emotionally drained right now. I couldn't bring myself to have Chloe cheat by 'making a mistake' and sleeping with Jesse (or have her sleep with him period), but somehow this seems so much worse to me.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Alright, thank you to everyone for sticking with me through this story (well except the one person who dropped me from their author alert list over it…sorry that was close to whiney). I always write these before I write the chapter, and I should know better. I had something about this being the last bad chapter and yah, not going to happen that way. Didn't get through it all here, so there's at least one more chapter of this to go (possibly two). As I mentioned in the first chapter, this first inklings of an idea for this story came from the song "Breakeven" by The Script. That gave the seeds for the next couple of chapters. I suggest you listen to the song or look up the lyrics if you haven't before.

To the Guest reviewer that thought using Chloe and Jesse was cruel First, thank you for taking a chance and continuing to read even though you sound like a pretty diehard Bechloe fan. Second, as I mentioned in my author's notes for chapter one I really did agonize over using it. I'm with you, it really is cruel and it goes against every grain in my body to do it (I'm going to be honest, I don't like Jesse, period). But I think in the end, it went back to the point I made about using Chloe instead of Aubrey or Stacie, it made it that much more painful, both to Beca and the reader.

If Chloe has an actual canon middle name, please let me know so I can change it.

Oh, and because of the hell I'm putting you through I'm going to let you help pick my weekend drabble piece pairing. It has to be Beca with one other person (and it can't be Jesse). I always work on a drabble piece during the weekend to take my mind off my other pieces, it helps me process them better. I'll take suggested pairings until 1pm CST tomorrow the 24th of September (which is GMT-5). You can pm me or leave them in the comments.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pitch Perfect or Pitch Perfect 2 (or Pitch Perfect 3, whenever we start finally getting details on it)

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Beca woke up at 4 a.m. sore and cold on the kitchen floor. Between the stress of the tour and finding out about Chloe and Jesse, she was drained and had cried herself to sleep where she had fallen the night before. She didn't even bother getting to her feet, that implied having more energy than she did right now. She crawled through the apartment to the bedroom where she finally got up. She turned on the light so she could get something else to sleep in and saw the room. Chloe's stuff was gone. The room looked half complete. Her pictures, gone. Her clothes, gone; one of the empty drawers still open slightly. Everything, just gone. Beca let out a strangled cry as she fell back against the wall, sliding down it to the floor. She dropped her head into her hands as the tears came again, hot, bitter tears, the sense of loss even deeper now that she's seen the evidence that this is real.

She finally managed to get into a long t-shirt and crawl into bed. She lay there curled in a ball, arms wrapped around the pillow that Chloe used to sleep on, her scent soothing and upsetting at the same time. Her tears soaking the pillowcase as she broke down again. She finally cried herself out, or at least enough that she fell into another exhausted sleep.

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Aubrey knew that Beca got back from her tour on Friday, so she thought she'd wait until Monday evening to call Chloe (you know, to give the two lovebirds some quality time to get reacquainted after six weeks). She smiled to herself as she listened to the phone ring, bracing herself to hear all of the details (well not _all_ of them) of Beca coming back home. Chloe finally answered on the fifth ring, just before it went to voicemail, "Hey there Bree, why are you calling on a Monday?"

Aubrey chuckled, "Well, I didn't want to disturb you during Beca's homecoming, the little hobbit wouldn't have let me live it down."

Chloe answered with a subdued, "Oh, thanks for that."

Aubrey's eyebrows crinkled at the response, "So how is Beca?"

Chloe didn't say anything for twenty seconds, "Chloe Marie Beale, what's going on?"

Chloe sighed, answering in a small voice, "I broke up with Beca."

Aubrey pulled the phone away from her ear and glared at it, almost as if she could make Chloe could feel her wrath through the phone line. Even though she was pretty sure of the answers based on Chloe's demeanor, she had to give her best friend the benefit of the doubt that she wasn't to blame for this, so she put the phone back to her ear and asked, "Did she cheat on you?"

"No"

Aubrey sighed, "Did she abuse you in any way?"

"No"

Aubrey growled into the phone, literally growled, "What the literal fuck Chloe?" Chloe shrunk back from the phone, holding it away from her ear because of how loud Aubrey came through the line. Aubrey continued to berate the redhead, "You know that she came out of her shell because of you… _you_. She gave you her heart without question or reserve even though it went against everything she grew up believing and you just shattered it. You broke through her barriers enough so that she even let the rest of us Bellas in and now who knows if she's going to go back into that shell and never trust anyone again. If she shuts the rest of us out, I'm going to, going to…Fuck Chloe, why? Why would you do this to her?"

She could hear Chloe sobbing on the other end of the line, she finally calmed down enough to answer through the sobs, "I didn't mean to."

Aubrey snapped at her, "You didn't mean to break up with her, what the fuck Chloe?"

Chloe managed to get out through her tears, "I didn't mean to fall in love."

Aubrey started to panic about the small brunette when she heard that. This wasn't good at all. Aubrey was hoping she could knock some sense into the redhead and fix this. There was no going back from _this_ and Beca's life was so wrapped around Chloe that devastated wouldn't begin to cover it, so in her mind she was thinking, "shit, shit, shit." She was pissed at Chloe before, but this was unforgivable.

She really didn't want to know, but she needed to ask anyway, "Who Chloe? Who did you fall in love with?"

Chloe's tears had slowed to a trickle. Aubrey heard a sniffle through the phone before Chloe replied softly, "Jesse."

Aubrey came unglued, "Jesse? The fucking Treblemaker, Jesse? Her best fucking friend, Jesse? That fucking son of a bitch, I'm going to kill him. I knew he was fucking trouble back when he first joined the Trebles. God damn it Chloe, with her best friend?"

Chloe tried to make her excuses but Aubrey just cut her off, "I don't want to hear it. Do you still have a key to your apartment?"

Chloe nodded with the phone against her ear and then realized that Aubrey couldn't see it, "Yes, I do. Why?"

Aubrey was already thinking things through, she absently responded, "You don't need to worry about it. Just don't give it back yet."

Chloe almost whimpered into the phone, "Aubrey?"

Aubrey snapped, "I'm too mad at you to talk right now Chloe," before hanging up on the redhead.

Aubrey dialed Beca's number and let it ring until it went to voicemail, "Beca, sweetie, I just found out. I'm so sorry. Please call me when you get this."

Aubrey dialed her number three more times and let it go to voicemail each time, but hung up before leaving another message.

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Aubrey dialed Stacie's number and put the phone on speaker while she waited for her computer to wake up. When Stacie answered, Aubrey started with "Hi Stacie, you need to sit down. I mean it, sit." She brought up the schedule for events and groups at the retreat for the next two weeks. When Stacie let her know she was sitting Aubrey started, "Ok, bear with me and let me finish before you start asking questions and such." The other girl gave her agreement and Aubrey continued, "I just got off the phone with Chloe and she broke up with Beca." Aubrey heard a faint, "Oh fuck," in the background while she continued, "Apparently she fell in love with Jesse and left Beca when she got back from her tour. I'm working on rearranging things so I can go out to L.A. and see her. What I need from you is to give me a few days before you call her. I'll keep you updated and let you know what's happening. Ok, done."

Stacie sighed, "Have you heard anything from her? Oh my god, she has to be devastated."

Aubrey shook her head while responding, "No, I've called three different times now and called multiple times each time. She isn't answering her phone and I'm worried." She rearranged a few schedules while she talked and managed to get everything covered without her for the next nine days.

Stacie muttered under her breath, "Goddammit Chloe, what the fuck?" Then she addressed the blonde, "Alright, keep me updated on things and let me know if there is anything I can do?"

Aubrey smiled at the phone, "Actually there is something you can do right now. Can you call the rest of the Bellas and let them know. I've told you everything I know so I can't give them any more details than you could."

Stacie sighed into the phone, "Sure, make me the bearer of bad news to everyone. Yes, I'll do it, of course."

Aubrey sighed in relief as she brought up the site for the airline, "Thank you so much Stacie! I've got to run and finish making all the arrangements. I'll call you as soon as I know anything."

Stacie wiped the tear that started rolling down her cheek, "Tell her that I'm sorry and if she needs anything I'm here for her."

She found a flight out early the next morning, clicking on the reserve button as she responded, "Don't worry Stacie, I'll let her know. I'll take care of her." After hanging up, Aubrey called her staff in for an emergency meeting to let them know she was going to L.A and gave them their new assignments for the next nine days.

After the last of her staff members had left, Aubrey sighed and picked up her phone again. She dialed a number and waited while it rang. When the phone was finally answered, a needy voice came through, "Aubrey?"

Aubrey grit her teeth at the sound of the voice, but she needed her for this to work out, "Chloe, meet me at that coffee shop a couple blocks from your old apartment at 1 p.m. tomorrow. Come by yourself, I don't know what I'll do if you bring _him_. And bring your key."

Chloe sounded confused, "Why?"

Aubrey sighed, "Just be there with the key. I've got to go." She hung up without waiting for a response.

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Aubrey was tired and cranky. She had to leave at 3:30 a.m. to make sure she was in time for her 7:30 a.m flight. Then there was some issue with the flight staff and they ended up having a 25 minute delay. Then, even though she had filled out the reservation form online last night for a compact car, they couldn't find her reservation at the rental office and to top it off, they didn't have any compact cars available. But even with the delay getting out of the gate this morning, and the rental agent not being able to find her reservation, she still managed to get to the coffee shop fifteen minutes early. She ordered herself the largest vanilla latte they had and had them add an extra shot of espresso. She also ordered a medium black coffee to take to Beca's apartment. She didn't have to wait long for the redhead to show up. Chloe slid into the seat across from her, giving her a tentative smile, "Hey Aubrey."

Aubrey had on her 'I'm not amused' face, "Did you bring the key?"

Chloe looked hurt, "Of course, but I'm not going to give it to you until you talk to me."

Aubrey went off on her, "What, so you can tell me how you didn't mean for it to happen? How you're so in love now? How sorry you are? Well it doesn't mean shit to me Chloe. I'm here for one reason and one reason only, to pick up the pieces of the woman you left in that apartment. The pieces of my friend and I only hope that I can help her put them back together in some way. I'm here because I care about what happens to Beca and if you aren't going to give me the key, then fuck you. I'll find another way." She had gotten up as she finished, her voice rising and people were turning to look at the two women.

When Chloe didn't say anything, she just huffed and turned to the door. She felt a hand on her arm as she went to walk away. She turned to see a crying Chloe holding out the key, "Here."

Aubrey gave her a single nod, "Thank you," before turning and walking out of the coffee shop.

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A/N: It's a little shorter than I wanted for this chapter, or a little longer depending on how you look at it (getting this far wasn't supposed to take as many words as it did). So I'm going to break here so I can get this out yet tonight and handle the Aubrey/Beca part of this section in one chapter. And no, they aren't going to fall in love in the nine days that Aubrey is in L.A. It's not going to get better for a little bit yet.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Some quick answers to guest reviews – the only ones I had gotten to see as of writing this because Chapter 3 reviews aren't showing up (and these are what I can remember because I don't pay much attention in the Moderate Reviews screen)

To the guest who liked the daily updates but wanted longer chapters. Honestly, I only write for an hour or two a night usually, so the only two options are for 2k-3k word daily updates or longer updates less frequently. And I've actually been working more on this story (for some reason it's taking longer to write it), so it's been more like 3-4 hours for the 2k words. I wish I could give you longer updates daily but unfortunately I can't write that fast.

To the guest who asked if it was Bechloe endgame. I'm pretty confident that I can say it won't be, sorry.

To the guest who wondered about Aubrey being so mean to Chloe. It's half writer's 'liberty' in that I didn't have room/space/words for a more drawn out conversation so I didn't start with a more 'fluffy' conversation between them. The other half comes from my mentioning in the A/N for chapter 1 part of the AU here is that Aubrey and Beca were better friends than in the movies, I opted for good friends by the time I got to this point. Aubrey knows what it's like to be closed off emotionally so she relates to Beca and does really know what this would do to her (because I think it would do the same to her if she were in Beca's position). As for does she have feelings for Beca beyond friendship at this point? As of right now, your guess is as good as mine because I haven't flushed that out yet.

Disclaimer: Don't own Pitch Perfect or Pitch Perfect 2, but they let me swim in their pool sometimes.

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Aubrey knocked on Beca's door. She wasn't expecting an answer, but she thought it was only proper to try. After thirty seconds she knocked a second time, waiting. She sighed as she slipped the key into the lock, opening the door and bracing herself. She took her shoes off out of habit, then laughed humorlessly to herself; it had always been Chloe that insisted they take their shoes off at the door. She took them off anyway and slipped quietly into the apartment. The living room was empty. At least there were no bottles littering the coffee table, because Aubrey was worried that the smaller girl would try to drown her pain with alcohol. She sighed, there were other rooms to check before she let that worry slip away though. She set Beca's coffee on the coffee table as she passed by.

She peeked into the kitchen. There were empty cereal boxes and an empty plastic jug of milk tipped over on the table. Good, at least she had been eating _something_. She moved down the hallway towards the bedroom and stopped when something crinkled under her foot. She looked down and gave a little laugh as she stooped to pick up the discarded Pop-Tart wrapper, Beca had always had a thing for Pop-Tarts. When she got to the bedroom, she opened the door and stood in the doorway looking around. The room was dark, even this late in the day. Beca wasn't a morning person so they had installed room darkening curtains so she could sleep in on her days off if she wanted. Aubrey debated turning on the light, but decided against it. Instead she found the switch for the hallway light, even though it didn't add much to the daylight streaming down the hallway.

She went back to the bedroom, actually walking in this time. She found the brunette curled in a tight ball on the bed, her body wrapped around a pillow. She knew Beca was aware of her because she saw her eyes following her as she moved to the bed, sitting on the edge, her back rigid. Dammit, she should have had Stacie come, she just wasn't great at this comforting thing and Stacie was. No, there was a reason she needed to come, she just hoped that she could help her friend. So, reached over and placed her hand on the smaller girls shin, slowly running her hand up and down. The smaller girl pulled her leg away, pulling herself into a tighter ball so Aubrey just left her hand on the bed next to her. She didn't say anything, because honestly, what could she say right now to make anything better. So she waited and just let Beca know she was there by the weight of her hand on the bed next to her leg.

They sat like that for a few minutes before the brunette spoke. Beca whimpered out in the most pitiful voice Aubrey had ever heard, "She left me Bree."

"I know sweetie. I was worried about you."

Beca broke down sobbing even though she didn't think she had any tears left, "What am I going to do without her Bree? I love her so much. I keep praying that this is some cruel joke, that I'm just dreaming, that she's going to come back through that door, but she's not, is she?"

Without even thinking, Aubrey moved up to cradle Beca in her lap, stroking her hair, "Shhh. She isn't coming back. I know it doesn't feel like it now, but it will get better. I don't know why she left Becs, I really don't. But I'm here and we'll get through this together." The two girls sat like that for a while, not saying much of anything.

Aubrey finally looked down at Beca and decided she needed to get the smaller girl out of bed and doing something besides just laying here. So she stood up and pulled on Beca's hands, "Come on Beca, it's time to get out of this bed."

Beca whined, "I don't want to, there's nothing left for me out there."

Aubrey went to grab the pillow from her, but Beca's eyes got frantic and she pulled it back possessively, "Don't you dare touch this pillow."

Aubrey sat back on the bed, "It's ok Beca, I won't take your pillow." She stroked the hair back from the girl's face, "So what's so special about that pillow Beca?"

Beca curled her body around it tightly again, the side of her face pressed against it, crying, "It's the only thing I have left that smells like her. She took everything else. I miss her so much Bree, I don't know if I can take this."

Aubrey pulled on the pillow again, "I'm not going to take your pillow Beca. We can just set it back up here where it goes and it will be here when you get back." Beca nodded and let the pillow be pulled from her grasp. Aubrey smiled at her, "Good, now let's get you up and moving around. I brought you some coffee, but it's probably really cold by now."

Beca gave her a little smile, not much, but it was something, "Coffee would be good."

Aubrey stood back up and held out her hand to the smaller girl. Beca didn't take the hand, rather scooted to the edge of the bed and rolled to a sitting position before standing up. She stretched, hands above her head, arching her back and Aubrey actually heard the kinks coming out as her back popped. She nodded to Aubrey and the two girls headed to the kitchen. Aubrey grabbed the cold coffee off of the coffee table as they passed, moving to the sink and dumping it out. Beca collapsed in one of the chairs as Aubrey filled the coffee pot with water and then got the coffee and a filter out. After she got the coffee started brewing she started tidying up the kitchen. As she was grabbing the empty cereal boxes off of the table, she noticed the open ring box sitting there. Her heart fell and she got an empty feeling in the pit of her stomach. She picked up the box, staring at the ring. She absently said, "It's gorgeous Beca."

Beca looked down at her hands, clasped on the table as if she were praying, speaking almost in a whisper, "I got it a few days before the tour ended. It reminded me of her, simple but sophisticated, gorgeous and sparkling. I didn't even get the chance to show it to her or ask before she told me. I know I shouldn't have, but I showed it to her right before I told her to leave. I shouldn't have tried to hurt her like that, but …"

Aubrey walked over and put her hand on Beca's shoulder. She watched the smaller flinch away from the touch slightly, but she didn't pull her hand back. She sighed, "Don't be sorry Beca. You were hurt and taken by surprise," snapping the ring box closed, "obviously. It's ok if you lashed out a little bit. I know I would have." She gave the brunette a wry smile as she finished.

By this time, the coffee had finished brewing so Aubrey walked to the cupboard and grabbed two mugs. She filled them both and set one on the table in front of Beca. She turned and looked quizzically at the cupboards. Beca didn't even lift her head from the table as she pointed at one, "Sorry but I drank all the milk."

Aubrey smiled as she walked to the cupboard Beca had pointed at, "That's ok, just sugar will be fine." She grabbed the sugar and dropped a spoonful in, stirring it before she took a sip.

Aubrey sat down across from her friend, "Alright, have you had anything to eat except that crap?" She pointed at the stack of cereal boxes next to the garbage can.

Beca gave a weak smile, "Yah, I had Pop-Tarts too."

Aubrey smirked, "I know, I walked over a wrapper on my way in." She paused, "Ok, it's probably too soon to take you out for something, so what would you like delivered? Pizza? Chinese? Thai?"

Beca shrugged, "Pizza I guess."

Aubrey nodded, "Pizza it is. Where's the best place to order from?"

Beca pointed to a drawer, "The green one."

Aubrey found the flier/menu and dialed the number, ordering a medium pepperoni and pineapple and a medium veggie pizza with a couple of sodas. They waited for the pizza with very few words exchanged. Aubrey went about cleaning the kitchen while Beca either watched or just sat there with her head in her hands. When the pizza arrived, Aubrey dished up both of their plates and set Beca's down in front of her. At first she just picked at it, but once some of the food hit her stomach she realized how hungry she actually was and ended up eating half of her pizza.

When they were finished, Aubrey rinsed their plates off and set them in the sink to wash later. She walked over to the doorway to the living room, "Come on, let's watch some Netflix."

Beca shrugged but got up, which was a positive sign. She plopped down on the couch and tossed the remote and Xbox controller to Aubrey. Aubrey turned everything on and loaded up Netflix on the console, "What should we watch?"

Beca looked at the screen, everything on the Watch list and Continue Watching list reminded her of Chloe. She started to softly cry again, "Something that has a lot of explosions and is mind numbing." Aubrey searched for the latest Marvel movie and started it, thinking that fit the bill.

They sat there in silence, half watching the film when Beca started talking quietly, "It feels like something's squeezing my chest. It's like I can't even breathe right. Is it ever going to stop hurting Bree?"

Aubrey held her arm up and patted her side. Beca timidly slid over and leaned against her. Aubrey wrapped her in a hug, "You never quite get completely over it, at least I haven't yet. Do you know why I had to come?" Beca looked up at her and shook her head. Aubrey gave Beca a sad smile and then looked up towards the t.v., but Beca could tell she was looking past it, seeing something else. Aubrey continued, "During my freshman year I started dating this girl."

Beca sat up a little, looking at Aubrey, "I didn't know you were gay. In fact, I don't know if I've ever seen you go out with anyone."

Aubrey smirked, "Not many people know that about me, and you didn't see me date often because I didn't. So I started dating this girl and we got serious. Serious enough that I came out to my parents because I couldn't see my life without her in it. That could have gone better, but in the end, they accepted me for me and we've been pretty good since." She shook her head, "But that's not the point. At the end of our sophomore year, right before we left for the summer, we started talking about how it sucked being in the dorms. I suggested that since we were dating and it was probably inevitable, that we move in together. I pointed out that it would save us money in rent and we could spend more time together and a list of other positive things from living together."

Aubrey stopped talking for a minute, angrily wiping the tears from her cheeks. Beca squeezed her hand in sympathy. Aubrey finally continued, "She looked at me and laughed, 'I can't live with you Aubrey. You are way too intense. I thought I might be able to mellow you out a bit, but that obviously isn't the case.' She said some other mean things as well, but they don't really matter."

Beca forgot her pain for a little while as she listened, she pulled Aubrey into a hug, "I'm sorry Bree, that had to be tough."

Aubrey sadly laughed, "I'm supposed to be the one comforting you."

Beca smirked at her, "Well I did forget about my problems for a second there."

Aubrey hugged the smaller girl before letting her slip back down against her side, "Well it turns out she was dating me and someone else at the same time. It crushed me, I thought I was ready to spend my life with her. So I knew what you were going through and I had to come, because I didn't let anyone comfort me. I went home and spent the summer in my room crying. I came back in the fall with my walls up, because nobody was ever going to hurt me like that again. I don't know if I made the right choice though because it's been lonely keeping everyone out." After that, the two girls sat in silence, each in their own thoughts with the movie playing, unwatched, in the background.

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The next morning, Aubrey poked her head into Beca's room after she had showered and gotten ready for the day. The little brunette looked so vulnerable curled up around that pillow that Aubrey almost felt guilty for waking her. She walked up to the bed and gave Beca a light shake, "Up and at 'em sleepy head. There's coffee in the kitchen waiting for you. I'm going to run to the store since you ate every bit of breakfast food you had in the apartment. I'll grab more cereal and milk, anything else you want me to grab?"

Beca looked up sheepishly, "Pop-Tarts?"

Aubrey laughed at her, "Of course I'll grab some Pop-Tarts. I'm going to grab some other things too, so we can actually cook something here instead of having to order out all the time." She gave the smaller girl a pat on the shoulder as she turned to go. As she walked out the door she turned, "Seriously Becs, get up. I don't want to find you in that bed when I get back."

Beca stuck her tongue out at the bossy blonde, but as Aubrey turned to go Beca quietly said, "Thank you Aubrey."

Aubrey smiled back at her friend, "Sure thing Becs."

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That afternoon Aubrey wanted to get Beca out of the apartment; someplace familiar but without a lot of memories of Chloe. So she asked Beca if she would show her the studio she worked at. Beca shrugged, "Sure, I took a couple of weeks off to recover after the tour, but I don't think they'd mind if I showed you around."

So they headed across town to the studio. Beca showed Aubrey her office and the recording studio she worked in. She popped in a rough edit of one of the songs that didn't make the album and let Aubrey work some of the controls, showing her how to blend the tracks and fade specific sections so no one instrumental track overshadowed another, or more importantly, overshadowed the vocals. After they were done there, Aubrey suggested they walk around the area and find one of the restaurants that Beca liked to eat at. So they walked and Aubrey asked about the tour and if she was going to make another album, trying to keep the topic work related. They had a nice meal together, which Beca insisted she pay for when Aubrey went to grab the check. Aubrey just tipped her head in a small nod, letting the brunette pay.

So it went, Aubrey taking Beca out to do something every afternoon. Each day she brought their outings closer and closer to Beca's neighborhood. Finally, on Aubrey's last day in L.A., they walked around Beca's neighborhood. They stopped at her favorite coffee shop. They had dinner in the restaurant that Chloe would take her to all the time. They went to the stores the girls used to shop at. Aubrey could tell that it was difficult for Beca, but she handled it like a trooper. The only time Aubrey saw tears in Beca's eyes was when they were sitting in the coffee shop and they heard Chloe's favorite drink order called. Beca's eyes shot up to the counter, simultaneously hoping and dreading what she would see. Luckily, a blonde walked up to the counter and grabbed the offered cup. Aubrey went to hold Beca's hand, but the brunette pulled away, grabbing her drink and taking a sip as the tears rolled down her cheeks.

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The next morning, Beca got up early (well at least early for her) and fixed breakfast, an actual breakfast of omelets and toast with coffee and juice. When Aubrey got out of the shower and walked into the kitchen to find Beca finishing up the second omelet and sliding it onto a plate, she smiled and asked, "What's this?"

Beca turned and smiled at the blonde, "Well I don't think I've thanked you enough for coming out here. You didn't have to but I'm glad you did. I don't know how I would have gotten through this week without you here Bree. So I thought I'd start making it up to you by cooking you breakfast before you had to leave."

Aubrey smiled as she sat down at the table. Beca grabbed both plates and slid one in front of Aubrey as she sat down, setting the other down in front of herself. The two girls ate in silence, enjoying the food. When they finished Aubrey looked at Beca, "Are you going to be ok?"

Beca looked up at the ceiling, tears starting to form in her eyes again. Then she looked back at Aubrey nodding, "Yah, I think so. It's still rough, but I think I'm past the worst of it. Thanks to you."

Aubrey gave one of her signature nods, "Ok, good. You can always call me, day or night. Oh, I've still been having the Bellas hold off on calling you until you were ready. Would it be alright if they started calling?"

Beca smiled at her, "Mmmhmm, just not too many calls at once. Please."

Aubrey nodded, "I'll let them know."

Thirty minutes later, Aubrey was standing at the door with her bags in hand. She was looking at Beca with a concerned look, so Beca tried to give her her best smile. Aubrey didn't look quite convinced, but she smiled back, "Ok, remember to call if you need to. Seriously Beca, you aren't alone so don't try to handle it alone."

Beca nodded and saluted the blonde, "Yes, Ma'am."

Aubrey pursed her lips to the side, "I'm not an aca-Nazi anymore Beca." Then she stuck her tongue out at the younger girls, which brought an actual smile.

Aubrey leaned in to hug the other girl, whispering, "Try to not be so sad, hobbit."

Beca stood stiffly through the hug, her arm weakly coming around the other girl to return it, "I'll try, but I can't promise anything."

Aubrey sighed, "All we can do is try." She gave the Beca a wave as she walked down the hallway and then watched as Beca closed the apartment door. God she hoped Beca would be alright.

As she closed the door, Beca turned around and leaned back against it, letting herself slide to the floor. She hugged her knees to her chest and let out everything she couldn't let Aubrey see. She sat there and cried for a good fifteen minutes before she wiped her eyes and got up. She walked to the kitchen and finished cleaning up the breakfast dishes with the tears still fresh on her cheeks.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Alright, this is a short one (just shy of 1700 words), but I did get to the point I needed to in this chapter. Had a bad day writing, couldn't concentrate for some reason, sorry.

To the guest who wants to know about Chloe and Jesse and if they are friends, etc. at the end. If you've read any of the A/N in some of my other fics, you'll know that I don't plan much out in advance when I write. I just let it come. I have some major plot points that I write around but sometimes even those end up differently than I originally planned. So I can't tell you what's going to happen with them. I can tell you that at this point Beca isn't getting back with Chloe. Thank you for reading this far, and if you decide to stop reading, I understand.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything having to do with Pitch Perfect or Pitch Perfect 2.

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Beca had to admit to herself that she wasn't doing that well. She would find herself crying over the smallest things in the apartment. She would be doing something innocuous and then she would see something or do something that reminded her of Chloe and she would be in tears. Every time she walked out of the apartment, she half hoped and half feared that she would run into the bubbly redhead. Even working on mixes couldn't keep her mind off of Chloe, because everything she had worked on for the past six years was about Chloe.

The Bellas were trying to help, really they were. But she was tired of talking about the breakup. Although Fat Amy did make her laugh when she started rambling about having some starving dingos handy and wanting to reenact the final scene of the Battle of the Bastards with a certain bastard from House Treble. Then she thought starving crocs might be better. On the other hand, Aubrey called the day after she left L.A. to check on her and let her know she got back to Georgia safely and then she didn't call back for another week. Beca appreciated that; she knew that she needed time to process this on her own and was giving her that space. After two weeks, and hundreds of assurances that she was alright, the calls from the various Bellas slowed down. The other exception was Stacie. She still called her every other day, but she never brought up Chloe. She just rambled about her day and who she was dating this week and wondered about what Beca did that day and Beca loved her for it.

It inevitably happened. Beca stopped into the neighborhood coffee shop on Saturday morning two weeks after Aubrey left to grab a cup of coffee and a muffin. She didn't know why she looked up from her laptop when she heard the door open, but she did. There they were, holding hands and laughing as they walked into the place. Beca's stomach lurched and she thought she might throw up right there. She sat there praying they wouldn't notice her in the back of the sitting area, but sure enough, Chloe's eyes came up and met hers. Beca broke the eye contact immediately, hoping she would just go away. But when she looked up Chloe was walking towards her and Jesse gave her a sheepish wave. The asshole didn't even have the decency to look guilty. God she wanted to punch him. Beca sighed and steeled herself for whatever came next.

Chloe stopped a few feet back from the table, "Hey."

Beca looked up, her face set in a 'not amused' expression, "Hey."

Chloe swallowed, "Umm…so how are you?"

Beca just gave her an exasperated look, "How am I? Really? You're going to ask me that?"

Chloe looked down at her feet, "Sorry."

Beca looked at her, the tears threatening to fall even though she was trying hard to stay angry enough that they wouldn't, "So you keep saying." Her resolve waivered, "But you weren't sorry enough to stay. Fuck, I love you so much Chloe it hurts. And now I have this hole in me and I don't know if it will ever go away."

The tears started falling even though she didn't want them to. She angrily pushed them away, packing up her stuff and walking quickly towards the door, muttering as she passed Chloe, "I can't do this right now." Jesse tried to move out of her way, but she took a little pleasure in the fact that he didn't move fast enough and she shouldered by him. She didn't even slow as she pushed the door open, escaping into the fresh air where she hoped she would be able to breathe again.

She wasn't able to breathe properly until she got back to the apartment. She shut the door behind her and bent over with her hands on her knees, trying to take deep breaths. When she had finally calmed down enough to breathe somewhat normally she pulled out her phone. When the other person picked up, she started talking in a strangled voice, "Bree, I can't do this. I can't be here. It's too much for me. There are too many memories and I just ran into her and I just can't…I can't Bree. What do I do?"

Aubrey sighed to herself, at least she trusted her enough to call her when it got bad, "Do you have to stay in L.A. Beca?"

Beca shook her head and then realized the blonde couldn't see it, "No, as long as there is a decent recording studio around I can record anywhere."

Aubrey nodded to herself, "What about your job at the studio?"

Beca sighed, "I was going to take a leave of absence anyway. The album did so well that I don't need the money from the job and they want to sign me to a multiple album deal, so I probably wouldn't have much time for it anyway."

Aubrey didn't expect that part, she thought it would be more difficult than this, "I have a crazy suggestion then. I have some open staff suites here at the retreat, why don't you come down and stay here for a while and get away from L.A. It's only a couple of hours to Atlanta and you know where the decent studios are there. You can stay as long as you want and nobody will bother you here."

Beca stood up from where she had still been bent over and then leaned back against the door, sliding down until she was sitting on the floor. She thought about it for a minute. That really didn't sound like a bad idea. She didn't have anything keeping her in L.A. any more. Her growing reputation could get her a foot in the door just about anywhere. She took a look around the apartment, "Ok, I'll do it."

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It took Beca less than a week to get her life settled in L.A. She gave her notice and paid rent through the end of the next month. If and when she came back to L.A. she didn't want to live in the apartment she shared with Chloe. She wanted a new start. What furniture she wasn't able to sell cheap to coworkers or other tenants in the building she donated to local charities for the cost of them picking it up. Aubrey had indicated that there was a small amount of storage for her at the retreat, so she boxed up things like the good cookware she had collected and some personal effects and sent them to Georgia via UPS. Saturday morning she had her car packed full of the items she didn't trust to send via UPS, like her computer and mixing equipment, and after stopping for gas and a cup of coffee she was on the road to Georgia.

Beca planned for four days of driving the 3300 miles to Georgia even though Google Maps said she could do it in three. She didn't want to push it and wear herself out. She found that she was right to plan for a little longer drive as she found herself pulled over on an off-ramp more than once, head against the steering wheel as she cried. Unfortunately Aubrey was pretty busy with two groups that weekend so she didn't have much time to take Beca's mind off of the drive (and other things) for the first two days of the drive. Stacie made up for it, the two girls making plans for Stacie to come down and visit her and Aubrey in a few weeks.

When Beca arrived at the retreat she couldn't help but smirk at the tall blonde standing there waiting for her in khaki shorts and shirt with her signature scarf around her neck. She stopped in front of the blonde girl, sitting there for a minute to just adjust to being here. She got out of the car and walked up to Aubrey, pulling her into a hug, "Thanks for letting me do this Bree."

Aubrey hugged the smaller girl back, "Anytime Becs."

Beca finally stepped back, giving Aubrey a shy smile, "Ok, so where am I at?"

Aubrey turned and then motioned with her head for Beca to follow, "I put you next to me, if that's alright."

Beca nodded, "Actually that's good, it might be a little awkward if I didn't know the person next to me."

She led them to a cabin, that actually turned out to be a small duplex. The suites were mirror images of each other and had their doors side-by-side. Aubrey opened the door on the right with a key and handed it to Beca, "This is yours." She held the door open for Beca to walk in first.

Beca was slightly surprised by the suite. She was expecting something equivalent to a small, cramped efficiency. Instead she found a reasonable sized one-bedroom apartment. There was small kitchen area with enough room for a table, a living room, bedroom and bathroom. The only thing that it was missing for Beca was a bathtub. Aubrey watched her walk around the suite, checking out all of the rooms.

When Beca came back out to the living room, Aubrey informed her, "We actually have some amenities out here like satellite t.v. The only downside is that our internet is also satellite, so it's not what you are used to and we tend to get spotty service during bad storms. Don't get me wrong, it's fast enough for most things but don't expect to download big files quickly."

Beca nodded absently at the older girl. Finally she stopped her inspection of the place and smiled at Aubrey, "It's perfect Bree, thanks again for letting me stay here."

Aubrey smiled back, "You're welcome Beca. Now, let's get you unpacked!"

The two girls walked back to the car side by side. Aubrey shifted to the side, bumping Beca with her shoulder, "I'm glad you came, hobbit."

Beca smirked and bumped her back, "I'm glad you suggested it, aca-Nazi."


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Alright, so I haven't been able to see reviews for three days now so I can't address any concerns here (or in the story). So you'll just have to deal with my visions for the time being.

I'd like to thank cakedinmud for letting me bounce some issues I've been having with 'personalities' off them. Oh, and something they mentioned sparked one of the scenes in this chapter so I've got to thank them for that.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything having to do with PP or PP2.

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Beca settled into things at the retreat fairly quickly. While she met all of the staff at the retreat the first couple of days there, she had a feeling that Aubrey had instructed them to give her some space. She started to enjoy being at the retreat. When they were here as Bellas, she was too upset at coming to actually notice how beautiful it was here. That fact actually helped her in the long run though, because even though she had been here with Chloe there weren't many 'good' memories to push through her growing barriers.

She started to feel like a slug after a week of sitting around her suite and watching Netflix, so she decided to start taking afternoon walks around the retreat. Her days for the next few weeks fell into a comfortable routine where she'd spend her morning catching up on e-mails and calls that couldn't wait and watching Netflix. She'd have lunch with Aubrey and then she's spend most of the afternoon exploring the retreat. Aubrey was nice enough to walk with her the first day to point out where all of the bear traps were, so she didn't get caught again. Some days she'd spend just walking the trails through the woods around the lake, other days she'd put on her swim suit and enjoy a dip in the lake. She even found she enjoyed the 'water park' at the retreat when she wasn't forced to participate in 'team-building' exercises.

In the evenings, she would have dinner with Aubrey and they would spend the night on the couch watching Netflix or just relaxing, or at the table playing cards or even just sitting and watching the stars. Beca was glad Aubrey was there, because although she had been a loner when she joined the Bellas all those years ago, she had kind of come to like having other people around. Well that and sitting by herself in her suite gave her mind too much opportunity to wander to places she didn't need or want it to.

One night, Beca was sitting on Aubrey's couch playing solitaire on her laptop while Aubrey sat at the other end of the couch reading a book, her legs kind of tucked under her. Beca decided to get a little more comfortable and swung around in her seat, bringing her back against the arm of the couch and stretching one leg across the couch, the other tucked up against the front. After a few minutes, she shifted a little and her foot nudged Aubrey. It wasn't much of a touch, neither girl really noticed it, but Aubrey dropped her hand down to the foot, absently starting to rub her thumb over the ball of Beca's foot. Beca suddenly swung back around and sat upright. She tried to cover the sudden movement, "I need a soda." She turned to Aubrey as she stood up, "Do you need anything?" Aubrey looked up from her book, shaking her head, "No, I'm good. Thanks for offering." Aubrey's face creased into a slight frown as she watched her friend walk to the kitchen.

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Stacie came down from New York like she promised and spent a long weekend with Beca and Aubrey. Beca was glad she came because it gave her another distraction from thinking too much. Things had been getting too routine and her mind would start to wander to things she'd rather not think about. So the whirlwind that was Stacie Conrad was just what Beca needed at the time. They spent one afternoon shopping in Atlanta, Stacie making sure they carefully avoided the Barden campus so as not to bring back memories. They spent another afternoon sunbathing on the beach, Stacie talking nonstop about New York and how her modelling career was taking off. She had even met a guy. They had been dating for about four months now and Stacie thought it might be getting serious. While Beca was happy for her friend, it still hurt a little hearing about it.

After Stacie's visit, Beca seemed to become more and more withdrawn. Aubrey noticed she spent less time out and about around the retreat and their evenings together were getting shorter and shorter. One night, Beca didn't come over for dinner and when it got past eight and Aubrey still hadn't heard from the other girl, she went over to her suite. She knocked on the door and when she didn't get an answer, she let herself in. The suite looked like it hadn't been picked up in a few days. Not seeing Beca immediately, Aubrey walked to the bedroom and looked in. Beca was curled up on the bed, wrapped around Chloe's pillow again. Aubrey sighed, enough was enough. She walked over to the bed and pulled the pillow away from Beca.

Beca sat up, grabbing at the pillow, "What the fuck dude?"

Aubrey held the pillow away from the smaller girl, "You've been moping around enough Beca Mitchell, time to wake up and realize that you need to get over Chloe. It's time you pulled your head out of your ass, it's not a hat."

Beca growled at her, "Fuck you Posen!"

Aubrey scowled at her, "That's right, get mad. Get anything except this pathetic thing you've become. The Beca I know would never act like this. Have you done any work since you've been here?"

Beca yelled, "I can't work, it reminds me of her too much."

Aubrey yelled back, "Good then use that. Get it all out of your fucking system. Write it down. Use it. Don't be such a fucking baby about it."

Beca broke down, "I can't, I just can't."

Aubrey gave an exasperated sigh and threw the pillow at her, "Fine, I'm done. Do whatever you fucking want." Then she stormed out, slamming the door behind her. Beca just looked at the empty door to her room and cried.

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The next evening as Aubrey was preparing dinner she heard a knock at her door. When she opened it she found a sheepish looking Beca standing there. She didn't say a word as she stood back to let the smaller girl in. Beca didn't say anything as she walked in and went to sit at the table. Aubrey hid the little smile that crossed her lips before turning back to the kitchen to finish making their meal.

The two girls ate their meals in silence, not quite ready to completely forgive the other. They cleaned up the dishes side by side, Aubrey washing and Beca drying. When they were done, Aubrey looked over at Beca, "Netflix?"

Beca shrugged, "Buffy?" Aubrey nodded and the two girls spent the evening sitting a little too stiffly on opposite ends of the couch, quietly in their own thoughts as they watched Buffy and Angel try to sort things out.

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A couple of days later during dinner, Beca looked up from her food, "I started writing again today."

Aubrey smiled at her friend, "How did it go?"

Beca shrugged, "It was rough, but I got through it. The song is a lot more depressing than anything else I've done. I don't know if I'd want to actually record it."

It was Aubrey's turn to shrug, "Who knows, what's important is that you are back to writing. Have you contacted anyone about starting the next album?"

Beca shook her head, "I put the contract talks on hold a couple of weeks ago, letting them know I needed a little down time."

Aubrey frowned at her, "Well now is as good of time as any to get started on those again." Then the blonde smirked at her, "Look at it this way, the more time you spend getting that done, the less time you have to spend writing depressing songs."

Beca chuckled, "True. I'll give the label a call tomorrow and get things going again."

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It took a couple of weeks, but Beca finally negotiated a two record deal that she was happy with. After she had the details of the deal finalized she put in a call to Residual Heat and asked for a meeting with her old boss, Michael. The Administrative Assistant asked for her name and the details of the meeting and Beca just explained that she used to work there and gave her name. The Administrative Assistant sounded like she started writing something down and then Beca didn't hear anything for a second. The girl on the other end of the phone suddenly gasped, "You're not _the_ Beca Mitchell. The one who's debut album just went platinum? That Beca Mitchell?"

Beca chuckled self-consciously, "Yup, that's me."

Beca heard papers rustling through the phone line, then the girl came back on, "I can get you in on Friday at 10 a.m."

Beca sighed, "I hate to be a bother, but I have a couple hour drive into Atlanta. Does he have anything open in the afternoon?"

The girl laughed, "For you, I'll make room. How does 1 p.m. sound?"

Beca responded gratefully, "That would be perfect. I didn't catch your name?"

The girl answered, "It's Sarah and I'll see you on Friday Miss Mitchell."

Beca smiled at the phone, "It's Beca, and I'll see you Friday Sarah."

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That evening over dinner Beca informed Aubrey, "I have a meeting at Residual Heat on Friday afternoon to catch up with my old boss and ask him if I can use the studio to do some recording. I was even thinking of asking him to help produce some of the tracks on the album."

Aubrey smiled, "I think that's great Beca. Getting into the studio will be good for you, you'll see."

Beca shrugged, "You were right, it's better than sitting around moping."

Aubrey reached over and pushed her arm, "What was that, I didn't quite hear it?"

Beca pushed her back, "Oh no Posen, that only comes out of my mouth once. If you missed it, it's your loss."

The girls laughed at that and then Beca asked, "So, if you don't have anything going on, you could come with me and I could take you out to dinner to thank you for everything. I mean you have to get away from here sometimes, don't you?"

Aubrey grimaced, "I'd love to Beca, but unfortunately I have a big group coming in Friday morning and staying until Sunday. I can't get away this weekend, sorry. But you're right, I do need to get away from this place for a bit, so how about the next weekend we go to Atlanta and do some shopping and grab some dinner then."

Beca shrugs, "Sounds like a plan to me."

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Beca walked into Residual Heat at five minutes before one and went up to the receptionist. She smiled as she introduced herself, "I'm Beca Mitchell for a 1 o'clock appointment with Michael."

The receptionist smiled and held out her hand, "Nice to meet you in person Beca, I'm Sarah. We spoke on the phone earlier."

Beca took the offered hand, "Well it's nice to put a face to the name, Sarah. It's pleasure to meet you in person."

Sarah forgot to pull her hand back and continued to hold Beca's hand, "Wow, the album cover doesn't do you justice."

Beca shyly pulled her hand back, pushing a stray strand of hair behind her ear, "Ummm, thanks."

Sarah shook herself, "Right sorry, Michael is finishing up another meeting and will be out shortly. If you'd like to have a seat?"

Michael came out about five minutes later holding his arms open, "Reggie, so nice to see you. What brings you to Atlanta?"

Sarah started to say "Sir, her name is…" but Beca shook her head at the other girl so she didn't say something she'd regret and mouthed "I'll explain later," as she walked into the hug.

After giving her a quick squeeze, he held Beca at arm's length, "You look good Reggie," then he gave a huge smile, "I can call you Reggie, right?"

Beca laughed, "Of course Sir, I wouldn't expect anything less."

Michael let her go and turned and started walking towards his office, "Enough of that Sir stuff, it's Michael."

Beca smiled at his back, "Sure thing, Michael."

When they reached his office, he shut the door behind them and motioned to a chair. As Beca sat he moved behind his desk and sat down. He leaned forward, his hands clasped in front of him, "Alright, in all seriousness, what brings you here Beca."

Beca shrugged, "I missed you." Michael tipped his head to the side with a look of disbelief on his face. Beca chuckled, "Ok, so I recently moved to the area and I was wondering if I could do some recording at the studio. I'm also looking for some production help and was hoping you'd be interested. Wait, is Dax still here?"

Michael looked disgusted as he pointed through the glass wall at Dax eating a burrito. Beca gave a comical frown, "Ok, I was thinking of working here with the stipulation that Dax doesn't work on anything of mine."

Michael laughed at that and then answered, "I think we can accommodate you with studio time and I'd be honored to work with you on your album." He nodded his head at the window, "And I promise Dax won't be involved in anything."

Beca laughed and leaned over the desk, holding out her hand, "Well I'm glad that was easy. I'll give Sarah my e-mail and number and you can send me the contracts and details."

Michael shook her hand, "It really is good to see you again Reggie. I haven't had anyone that can work the booth like you since you left. Maybe something will rub off on this group."

Beca blushed at the compliment, "Thank you, I'll do my best."

Michael waved her off, "Alright, now get out of here. I'm sure you have more important things to do now that you're famous." Beca waved before she closed the door behind her.

Beca stopped at the front desk to give Sarah her contact information. She smirked as she explained about the earlier exchange, "So, the Reggie thing. He couldn't remember my name when I first started as an intern here, so he just called me Reggie. He eventually learned my name but by then Reggie had stuck. So, I'll probably be Reggie forever within these walls." She gestured around her as she finished.

Sarah laughed at that, "That's a cute story. Thank you for stopping me from saying anything."

Beca nodded, "No problem." Her stomach picked that moment to let her know that she skipped lunch. She gave an embarrassed smile, "Sorry about that. I haven't been around here for a few years, any place good within walking distance?"

Sarah shrugged, "I was just getting ready to grab a burrito from the fridge but if you'd like I can show you a nice place a couple of blocks away."

Beca smiled at her, "I think I'd like that."

Sarah got up from her desk, "Give me a second, I'll be tight back." Beca watched her walk back and poke her head into Michael's office before coming back out. She kind of bounced in front of Beca, "Alright, ready."

Beca moved to the door, holding it open for the blonde with a purple streak through her bangs. Sarah thanked her as she walked through, waiting for Beca on the sidewalk in front of the studio.

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A/N: Yah, yah, yah – I know I suck for leaving it there.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Nothing really special to say on this piece. Thanks to everyone who keeps reading the story, I appreciate it. Finally got notifications turned on so I can at least see reviews through e-mail. Don't know if I'm the only one having issues or not.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pitch Perfect or Pitch Perfect 2.

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Beca knocked on Aubrey's door as she was opening it. She wore a smile as she crossed the room and leaned around Aubrey, picking at the leftovers she was putting away. Aubrey smirked back at the smaller girl, "Do you want me to get you a plate?"

Beca laughed as she reached around her again, snagging another bite of food, "Nah, I had a late lunch. I'm just grabbing a little snack."

Aubrey playfully slapped her hand as she went in for a third piece, "Well using your hands is disgusting." But she took the bite out of her reprimand as she grabbed a piece of chicken from the dish and held it back over her shoulder for Beca. Beca leaned up and grabbed the bite with her teeth causing Aubrey to chuckle. She finished putting the food away, poking her head around the refrigerator door as she found places for the containers, "What has you in such a good mood?"

Beca shrugged, "Talk went well with Michael at the studio. He agreed to work with me. Had lunch with the receptionist after the meeting. So all in all, a good day."

Aubrey pulled her head back behind the door, a small frown on her face, thinking to herself, "Ok, is this good or bad? Is it too soon? Is she going to get hurt again? Think Posen, what do you do?" She put her smile back on and shut the refrigerator door, "So how did lunch go?"

Beca shrugged, "It went alright. I asked her if she knew if there were any new places around the studio that were any good and she hadn't had lunch yet so she offered to show me one. It was nice and everything, but I think she was a little star struck." She chuckled and shook her head, "Not that I'm really anybody to be star struck over."

Aubrey slipped her arm through Beca's as she walked by, turning the smaller girl, "Who's album went platinum?"

Beca shrugged, "Mine?"

Aubrey laughed as she let go of Beca's arm so Beca could plop down in her spot on the couch, "Exactly. So she had every right to be star struck."

Beca smirked, "Whatever you say Posen."

Aubrey smirked back, "Well you said it the other day, I'm always right."

Beca reached over and pushed her with her foot as she sat down, "I said no such thing. I said you were right once and this is what I get."

Aubrey laughed, "So you admit you said I was right."

Beca just playfully scowled at the blonde, "Shit. I'm not saying another word."

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That Saturday the two girls went into Atlanta as planned. Beca slid into the passenger seat and plugged in her iPod as Aubrey got behind the wheel. Beca smirked at the older girl, "Sorry Aubrey, no Ace of Base today. I refuse to put that shit on my iPod."

Aubrey gave an exaggerated huff, "Well fine, if there's no Ace of Base then you can't play any Blackstreet either."

Beca smiled, impressed that Aubrey remembered that, "Fine, but you're really missing out."

The drive went quickly with the two of them chatting or singing to the music. Beca wouldn't admit it out loud, but she really enjoyed listening to Aubrey sing. Aubrey's voice had a richness to it that Beca envied. When they got to Atlanta, they decided to hit some stores first and then grab something to eat.

They hit a couple of stores in Little Five Points. A little before 3 p.m., Aubrey led them back to the car. When they got to the car, Aubrey looked at Beca over the roof, her hand on the door handle, "Don't be mad at me."

Beca looked confused, "Why would I be mad at you?"

Aubrey looked a little sheepish, "Well, I made us an appointment at Le Dress Boutique."

Beca looked at the blonde with an exasperated look, "You did what?"

Aubrey whined a little, "I made us an appointment. Please. I don't get to shop with someone else that often and I'd like your opinion on some dresses. Besides, you'll need to find something to wear for the Grammy's this year."

Beca frowned at her, "Why would I need something for the Grammy's. It's not like I'll be going."

Aubrey smirked, "I'll bet you dinner at Bacchanalia's that you get nominated for at least Best New Artist."

Beca smirked right back at her, "You're on blondie, but I'm not buying a dress just yet. I will look with you though and I'll even pretend I'm enjoying myself."

Aubrey clapped her hands in front of her, "Thank you!"

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Beca would never admit it to Aubrey, but she kind of had fun at the boutique. She laughed as Aubrey tried on some outrageous dresses and complimented the blonde when she found a couple of dresses that looked amazing on her. She even found a dress that she liked, a little red number that she might be considering for a Grammy dress, not that Aubrey planted a little seed of hope or anything.

After almost two hours in the store, Beca finally cried, "Enough! Aubrey I'm dying of hunger here. Can we _please_ go eat?"

Aubrey gave her a thinking pose, her lips pursed with her finger pressed to them. Finally she answered the brunette, "I suppose you've been patient enough." Then she laughed at the over the top pout on Beca's face, "Where would you like to go?"

Beca put her hands together in front of her, "Can we go back to that burger joint, umm, The Vortex I think, back in Little Five Points? Please…"

Aubrey walked up to her and bumped Beca with her hip, "That sounds good to me."

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Things settled into a nice routine for the two women. Aubrey worked at bossing people around all day and Beca would work on her music. It was tough for her at first, but Aubrey was right, writing about things did help and transferring the pain into the lyrics and music was producing some good songs. Not that she would ever, ever actually say out loud that Aubrey was right again, the one time was bad enough.

They continued their nightly routine, eating together and then spending time doing something (or nothing). They were sitting watching Orange is the New Black one evening, the girls on either end of the couch with their legs tucked under them. Beca groaned and stretched, shifting to stretch her legs out on the couch. After a few minutes, she whined that her feet were cold and kicked at the edge of the afghan Aubrey had over her lap. Aubrey smirked and spread the blanket over her feet without looking away from the t.v.

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They had decided to eat in Beca's suite that night. Beca broke from working on the melody line of her most recent song to start dinner. Aubrey came in a few minutes later and looked around the suite: empty cans on the coffee table, a couple of different open bags of chips around the room, papers strewn everywhere and various pieces of equipment haphazardly placed here and there. She looked at Beca and lost it, "What the hell Beca, can't you pick up at least a little bit? This place looks like a pig sty, how can you even live in this mess?"

Beca turned to look at her, "What the fuck Posen? Who put the stick up your ass and made you queen bee?" Then the smaller girl actually looked at Aubrey and saw her barely holding it together. It was a look she had seen too many times at Barden in the early days of her time with the Bellas. She pulled the pan off of the heat, turning the stove off. She walked over to the blonde, who wouldn't look her in the eye, and took Aubrey's hands in hers as she led her to the table. She sat the other girl down, still holding her hands, "Ok Aubrey, what's wrong?"

Aubrey looked up at Beca, "I'm screwed. I have two big groups coming in tomorrow and Brian just quit. No notice, nothing. So much for teamwork, huh?" She gave Beca a weak smile, to which she received a squeeze of her hands. She continued, "I've done all of the creative rearranging of schedules and staffing I can and I just can't quite make it work."

Beca sat down next to her, their hands still linked in an effort to keep the other girl grounded on something tangible, "Ok, what can I do to help?"

Aubrey looked at her in surprise, "Really?"

Beca nodded, "You've let me stay here for months now and haven't asked for anything in return, it's the least I can do. Besides, you need help and I'd be a shitty friend if I didn't help out. But I have no clue what I can actually do."

Aubrey pulled the brunette into a hug which Beca tentatively returned, "Oh thank you Beca, you're a life saver. Now, how can I work you into the schedule? Let me think about it while we eat."

Beca got up and nodded, going back to the kitchen to finish making dinner. Aubrey left for a minute to grab a planner from her suite. She came back and sat at the table flipping between a few pages while Beca cooked. They ate in silence for a few minutes before Aubrey started with her ideas, "How would you feel about talking about how your career has progressed? I mean start with your internship at Residual Heat, getting the job in L.A. and producing your own first album, the tour and now it going platinum. We include some leadership lectures and I think your story is a good one about how with hard work you can succeed."

Beca shrugged, "Sure I can talk about it, but why anyone would want to listen to my story…"

Aubrey took her hand and squeezed it, "Trust me, your story is a lot better than most leadership lectures that they've probably had to sit through. It's probably even better than what we would normally do. Ok, so that's one area, how about leading the team-building exercises on the water equipment? You've probably seen those the most, do you think you could handle those? Each group would be about an hour at that station."

Beca nodded with a contemplative look on her face, "I think I can handle that area, and you're right that would be the one I would be most comfortable with."

Aubrey smiled, looking relieved for the first time all night. After they finished eating and cleaning up the dishes Aubrey turned to Beca, "I'm sorry about taking it out on you earlier."

Beca rubbed her shoulder, "Eh, the place is kind of a mess."

Aubrey gave her a weak smile, "It is, but I shouldn't have done that." Beca shrugged. Aubrey got a look like she remembered something and then held up her finger, "I'll be right back, don't go anywhere."

Beca laughed and called after her as she ran out the door, "Where the hell would I go Posen?"

Aubrey came back about ten minutes later and found Beca curled up on the couch with her laptop. She smiled as she held out a pair of khakis and a pink polo with the retreat's logo on it, "I hope these are the right size. We don't have a lot of smaller sizes in the extras."

Beca just looked at the outfit, then whined to Aubrey, "Bree…do I really have to wear that? I can't wear pink, I break out."

Aubrey tossed her the uniform, "Yes, you have to wear the uniform. You'll look cute in it."

Beca pouted, "You've never seen me in pink for a reason Bree."

Aubrey shoo'd her with her hands towards the bedroom, "Go try it on so I know it fits."

Beca came back out after a few minutes, "See, I look like I listen to Justin Bieber or something."

Aubrey tried to hold back her smirk, "What's wrong with the Biebs?"

Beca gave her an incredulous look, "Seriously Posen?"

Aubrey couldn't hold back her laughter, "You look cute in it Beca."

Beca growled, "That's part of the problem, I'm not cute, I'm badass."

Aubrey shrugged, "How about you look like a cute badass?"

Beca sighed, deflated, "Fine."

Aubrey looked at the other girl again, locking eyes with her, "Seriously Beca, thank you."

Beca gave her a nod before heading to the bedroom to get into something less cute, like plaid everything.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Ok, I've decided on how to handle Chloe/Jesse – ignore them for now…lol. Thinking through where I want to go with the story from here on out, I don't think I need to add that much angst (there's already been enough, ok maybe a _little_ more) and I want to focus on Beca and Aubrey. BUT, what I'm going to do is write two epilogues (or companion chapters) that will focus on what happened to Chloe and Jesse when I'm done. The first Epilogue will be entitled Chloe - Karma and the second will be Chloe - Friends (see where I'm going here) and they will both run parallel to the main story (i.e., start at either the breakup or the meeting in the coffee shop and go from there). This way you can choose to read the one (or both or none) you want – I think it's bending the rules a little, but I'm pretty sure it will be alright.

I can finally see the reviews and thanks for every one of them!

50 Shades: You think it's hard reading that way, try writing that way . Although it hasn't been as bad as the end of 'Lost in Her Blue Eyes'. Almost couldn't get that damn thing finished. I hope we're all done with the crying for now (at least in this story), unless it's happy tears. Shit, just finished and maybe we aren't done quite yet (it's not terrible though so maybe we're sad but not crying).

Ok, what does it mean when 'Titanium' comes on Pandora right when I'm finishing proofing the chapter?

Disclaimer: Pitch Perfect and Pitch Perfect 2 still belong to someone other than me.

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Beca was nervous before her first leadership talk. Although I don't know if nervous really began to cover it. Why would they want to listen to anything she had to say? I mean she wasn't that important, she really hadn't done anything. Who was she to tell anyone how to succeed?

Aubrey had walked up and Beca hadn't seen her yet. She watched the smaller brunette pace back and forth, surprised there wasn't a wear mark on the floor. She cleared her throat to get Beca's attention. Beca stopped pacing and looked over at her, a slightly panicked look on her face, "Bree, I don't know if I can do this."

Aubrey just walked up to her and rubbed her upper arms, "Yes you can. How did Fat Amy put it, 'You're Beca F'en Mitchell' you can do anything you put your mind to."

Beca gave a startled laugh, "Anything except wrestle dingoes and crocs at the same time."

Aubrey gave her a hard stare like she was thinking, "Nope, you could probably do that too. You'd be too small for them to catch." She ended the statement laughing.

Beca pushed her away with a smile on her face, "Fuck you Posen." Beca then looked back at her quizzically, "So…what are you actually doing here? Think I might bolt for the woods?"

Aubrey just walked up and stood next to her, shoulder to shoulder and looked through the door into the room of people, "Nope, someone has to introduce you." She turned and looked down at the brunette next to her, "Seriously Beca, you'll do great."

Beca looked up at her, "I hope you're right."

Aubrey smirked at her, "I'm always right, you've even said it yourself." Beca grimaced but didn't say anything.

Aubrey walked out in front of the waiting group while Beca stood just inside the other room. She listened to Aubrey give her introduction, "Your speaker today officially started in the music industry at the age of 21 as an intern at a local studio in Atlanta. While there an opportunity to work with Snoop Dogg opened the door for her first demo to be heard. That got her foot in the door at a major label in L.A. as an assistant producer. She moved up quickly and by the age of 24 was solo producing music for the label. While working as a producer, she also became a well-known name as a DJ in L.A., getting invited to guest DJ at some of the hottest clubs in under two years on the scene. She also produced and recorded her first solo album, essentially on her own, by the age of 26. I've heard rumors that she is currently on the short list for a Grammy nomination. So, without further ado, I give you today's speaker, my good friend Beca Mitchell."

Beca stood there stunned as Aubrey talked, had she really done all of that in the few short years since she graduated from Barden? She shook herself out of her daze as Aubrey finished and turned to smile at her, holding her arm out in her direction. Beca put on her best smile and walked out giving the audience a small wave. She hugged Aubrey when she got to the center of the stage and took the microphone from her.

Beca actually enjoyed talking to the group. She went through her life for the past five going on six years and everything she'd done during that time. She talked about taking chances and not being afraid to show what you are capable of, like she did when Snoop Dogg was recording at Residual heat. She talked about working hard at your job and taking on extra responsibilities when the opportunity presents itself as she did at her first true production job. Finally, not to be afraid to put your heart and soul into creating something that you can be proud of, as she did with her first album. Then she got the question she wasn't prepared for, "But did you have to sacrifice anything to get where you are?"

Beca looked up at the ceiling as if she were trying to gather her thoughts about the question. She was really focusing on not crying even though she could feel the tears starting to well in her eyes. She took a couple of deep breaths to get herself under control before looking back down at the audience, "Yes, there will always be some sort of sacrifice to get ahead in the world. I had to sacrifice my time and as a result my girlfriend of 5 years left me. So, yes I did have to sacrifice to get where I am." With that, she thanked them all for coming and sent them off to their next activity.

After Beca was sure everyone in the group had left, she went into the back room and started pacing, muttering to herself as she tried to keep the tears at bay, "Fuck, fuck, fuck, get it together Mitchell. You've been doing so well, don't let it get to you. It's a good thing she left because if she couldn't handle that she really didn't love you." Now if only she could make herself believe it.

She had calmed herself by the time the second group arrived and Aubrey gave her introduction. Aubrey thought something might be a little off with the brunette, but dismissed it as nerves again. Beca, herself, went through her talk again and tried to be her upbeat self, but internally she was steeling herself for the inevitable question. When the questions ended and the topic hadn't come up again, Beca gave an inward sigh of relief.

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That evening, Aubrey thought Beca was a little quiet at dinner, but she initially brushed it off as she had a long first day helping with the retreat. When she really wouldn't interact with Aubrey while doing the dishes, she was a little concerned. So as they were getting Netflix set up for the evening, Aubrey looked over at the smaller girl, "Beca is everything alright?"

Beca sighed, "No, I had something come up today. I'll talk about it, but umm….I understand if you don't want to because I know it's not your thing, but I was wondering if we could cuddle a little?"

Aubrey lifted her arm up so the other girl could slide up next to her. Aubrey brought her arm down around Beca as she nestled against her body. The blonde smiled down at Beca, "There, is that better?"

Beca nodded against her side. The two girls sat in silence like that for a few minutes. Aubrey running her fingers through Beca's hair every so often. Beca finally started in a soft voice, "Does it ever go away completely?"

Aubrey gave the younger girl a squeeze with her arm, "I don't think so. I still think about it every once and awhile and wonder why. But the bad days get fewer and further between."

Beca sighed, "I almost lost in my first session today. Someone asked if I had to sacrifice anything and of course I thought of her. I thought of how unfair it was. But afterwards, I thought of how unfair it was to me that she left. But it still hurts sometimes."

Aubrey stroked her hair, "I know Becs, but I promise you that someday soon it will hurt a lot less."

Beca wiggled to get more comfortable, "Thank you for cuddling with me, I know it isn't really your thing."

Aubrey smirked down at her, "I know you probably won't believe it, but I used to love to cuddle, before. Then I started pushing everyone away and the only one who wouldn't listen and had this habit of invading my personal space was Chloe. She would ignore my protests and curl up against me anyway."

Beca smiled sadly, "I know. I never would have thought I would cuddle with anyone, I was too badass for cuddling, but she broke through that barrier. Now I miss it some days."

Aubrey wrapped both arms around her as they went back to watching Glee, "Well I'm here anytime you need to."

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Beca spent the next month alternating between doing some last minute edits on a few of the songs she was planning on using (mostly small edits/changes from Michael) , learning the ropes at the retreat so she could be more help for Aubrey and actually helping out when she was needed. Because she was having Michael do a lot of the production work this time around using more session musicians instead of Beca playing most of the instruments, she didn't need to be at the studio as much as for her first album. Michael was sending her tracks as they were finished for her to comment on, so she got to hear what the session musicians were doing. Essentially she just had to show up and sing and then after Michael put things together they would need to sit down and do final edits.

So Beca planned for an initial two week session and then they'd see where they needed to go from there. She booked a hotel for Sunday through Thursday for two weeks, with the plan to come back to the retreat for the weekend. Beca figured she'd include a mix of songs she had written before and those she'd written after the breakup. She didn't want to have the album too depressing, but she actually thought she had written some good pieces. She had sent down most of the music over a month ago so Michael could have the session musicians lay down most of their tracks before she got there.

She gave Aubrey a hug before getting in the car late Sunday afternoon. Aubrey told her, "Ok, drive safe and knock 'em dead in the studio."

Beca smiled and called out the window as she backed out, "Yes mother, and try not to go all aca-Nazi on anyone while I'm gone." Aubrey just stuck her tongue out and waved.

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They made pretty good progress on the album during that first week. Beca started with some of the lighter songs. They would record during the morning and early afternoon and then Beca and Michael would work through the track together after that. Beca was liking how the first tracks of the album were coming together.

Friday she decided to tackle on of her new songs. She said hi to everyone as she got settled in the studio. She took a big swig of her coffee before setting the cup down and heading into the booth. She pulled the earphones on and they did their sound check. She gave the thumbs up and the music started in her headphones. She came in on cue, the feelings she was feeling when she wrote the song starting to be heard in her voice. When she started on the chorus, her voice broke. She stopped and turned around, her hands on her knees as she took deep breaths. Michael's voice came through the speakers, "Are you ok Reggie?" Beca held up a finger behind her to let him know she just needed a minute. When she thought she had herself under control, she turned around and gave Michael a tentative smile through the glass and a thumbs up.

She move back up to the microphone and waited for the music to start in her headphones. As the music started, her chest started tightening up. She got the first line out before her voice gave out, tears streaming down her face. Michael's concerned voice came through the speakers, "Ok Beca, I think that's enough for today. Is there anything I can do?" Beca just shook her head and wiped angrily at the tears falling down her cheeks.

Beca quickly walked out and grabbed her bag. She headed right to the restroom, pushing into the last stall. She locked the door behind her and sat down, bending over with her head between her knees she sat and silently cried.

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When Aubrey got back to her suite she was surprised to see Beca's car already there. She wasn't expecting the brunette for another hour or two. She was going to surprise her with one of her favorite meals to celebrate her first week of recording. She walked into Beca's suite without knocking, ready to congratulate her. She was surprised when she didn't see her on the couch. She called out but didn't get a response. Curious, she left for her suite, thinking that maybe Beca was waiting there for her. When she opened the door and looked inside, she didn't see Beca there either. Now she was getting concerned and she hoped Beca wasn't where she thought she might be. Aubrey went back to Beca's suite and walked into the bedroom to find the brunette curled up around that stupid pillow again.

She sat down on the edge of the bed and slowly stroked Beca's hair, "Want to talk about it?"

Beca pushed the pillow away and moved to lay her head in Aubrey's lap, "I tried to sing one of the new songs today and I couldn't do it. It made me think of things again and it hurt. I don't know if I can do them Aubrey and I don't have enough other songs to finish the album."

Aubrey continued to stroke her hair, "We'll think of something. I've told you this before, but as my Dad always says, 'If you aren't here to win, get the hell out of Kuwait'."

Beca's brows creased, "What does that mean anyway?"

Aubrey shrugged, "I have no clue, but it usually makes people shut up and do what I want them to." Beca surprised herself by laughing. Aubrey smiled down at her, "That's more like my Beca. I was going to make you a special dinner tonight to celebrate, but I think it's more of a pizza and ice cream kind of night."

Beca nodded against her leg, "That sounds perfect."


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Not much to say here today, sorry. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Pitch Perfect and Pitch Perfect 2 are owned by someone else.

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They were sitting on the couch Saturday night watching Jessica Jones when Beca suddenly grabbed the remote and hit pause. Aubrey looked at her puzzled as Beca turned on the couch to look at her, bending one leg up so she was sitting half cross-legged. She grabbed her ankle as she sat there and started rocking a little. Now Aubrey was curious, so she turned to face Beca, mirroring her position.

Beca started, "Ok, so I have an idea. I know I keep putting you out and you've done so much for me and I'd understand if you said no or that you couldn't get away. Well it's really a silly idea, I don't know why I even thought of it…"

Aubrey smirked at the rambling girl, "Beca, breathe. Just ask me."

Beca took a deep breath, "Is there any way you could come with me. I think you just being there might help me be able to get through it."

Aubrey was touched that Beca wanted her there. She also realized that there probably wasn't much she wouldn't do for the alt girl. She got up from the couch and got her planner, plopping back down in the same position, her planner on her ankle. She flipped through the next week, making some notes as she went. Beca sat there watching her, biting her bottom lip. Aubrey finally looked up, noticing how cute Beca looked with her bottom lip between her teeth, "Alright, I can't get away until late Monday. But then I can give you Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday before I have to be back for my 10:00 a.m. group on Friday."

Beca hopped across the couch on her butt, pulling the blonde into a hug, "Oh thank you Bree. I'll owe you…again."

Aubrey smiled at her, "Yes you will Mitchell and I plan on collecting someday."

Beca nodded earnestly at her, then frowned, "I have a room booked for me already but do you want your own room? I can see if I can get you one or you can crash with me."

Aubrey thought about it for a minute, "Do you have two beds?" Beca nodded. Aubrey nodded back, "Then there's no sense getting another room. I think I can handle crashing with you for a couple of nights." She pushed the other girl's shoulder, "Besides, we'll probably be spending most of the evenings together anyway."

Beca shrugged at her, "Probably."

Beca pulled her phone out and sent a text to Michael, explaining that she wouldn't be in until Tuesday and she'd be bringing a guest to the studio.

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The two girls left late Monday after Aubrey double checked that everyone knew what their responsibilities were while she was gone. They were tired by the time they got to the hotel and Beca plopped down on her bed face first, talking into the mattress, "I think I'm just going to sleep like this."

Aubrey slapped her calf as she walked by, "Get up and at least brush your teeth and get into some pajamas."

Beca turned her head to the side and whined, "But I don't want toooo…"

Aubrey put her hand on her hip and mock glared at her, "Beca Mitchell you get up this instant," and then both girls broke down in laughter.

Beca sighed as she got up, "Yes mother."

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When they got into the studio Tuesday morning Beca introduced Aubrey to everyone and explained she was there for morale support in case something like Friday happened again. After the introductions Michael played two of the tracks back for Beca. They weren't finished but he had some ideas he wanted to run by her quick. After talking about the tracks, he sent Beca into the booth to rerecord a few sections of the songs with the changes they had just discussed. Aubrey sat back and watched in fascination. She had always loved singing but she had just sung with the Bellas. She had never actually seen how albums were made and she was intrigued by everything that went on.

The work on the songs they started last week took the entire morning. Michael decided to call a lunch break before they tried the new song again. Beca took Aubrey out to a nice little Italian place she had found the week before. Aubrey could tell she was getting nervous and reached out and placed her hand over Beca's, "Just breathe Becs, everything is going to be just fine." Beca nodded at her, but she didn't know if she was right this time.

When they got back to the studio, everyone was already there waiting for them. Beca plastered on her best smile and went into the booth. Aubrey sat forward on the edge of her chair as she looked through the window at Beca. Michael gave her a thumbs up through the window, which Beca returned. The music started and Beca came in on cue, a little hitch in her voice but nothing to stop recording over. When she got to the chorus, her voice broke again, just like the previous Friday. She tried to keep going through it, but she couldn't do it. She muttered "Sorry," as she wiped the tears angrily from her face.

Aubrey put her hand on Michael's shoulder, getting his attention, "Can you separate the vocals from each other on the two microphones?"

Michael nodded, "As long as there isn't too much carry over it should be fine."

Aubrey got a serious look on her face, "I'm going to need a copy of the music Beca's singing then."

Michael turned to an intern, handing him the vocals, "Go make a copy of this." When the intern didn't move fast enough, Michael yelled, "Now!"

Five minutes later Aubrey was walking into the booth with the music. She smiled at Beca, who just gave a weak smile back. Aubrey walked over to the other microphone and pulled the extra pair of headphones on. Beca looked at her quizzically, "What are you doing Bree?"

Aubrey looked at her like she had just lost her mind, "Singing, of course."

Beca looked confused, "Why?"

Aubrey shrugged, "Call it a hunch. I figured if I'm here and you're concentrating on singing with me, you won't get bogged down by everything else."

Beca gave a half-hearted laugh, "Well it's worth a shot."

Beca put her headphones back on and gave a thumbs up to Michael. Michael gave a thumbs up back and started the music. The music played through the headphones and the two girls came in on cue. Beca kept her eyes on the blonde next to her as she started to sing. Her voice broke a little on the first two notes but that was it. Aubrey's voice was soothing to her. She was entranced by the sound of it singing her song and it distracted her enough to keep her going through the chorus without missing a note.

Michael was leaning back in his chair after he started the music. He was expecting this to be a dead track and they would do a legitimate take after they ran through it once, hopefully without Aubrey needing to sing. But as soon as he heard the two voices blending together, he shot forward in his seat and started making subtle adjustments to the recording. When the two girls finished, he smiled. He grabbed his microphone and told the two girls to do it exactly the same way to make sure Beca could get all the way through the song.

They worked for the rest of the afternoon on the one song, doing a few takes with both girls and then doing a few with just Beca singing. Aubrey didn't leave the booth when Beca sang it without her. She just grabbed a stool and sat down where she had been standing to sing and watched Beca sing. When they were done for the day, the two girls walked out of the studio with linked arms, Beca still thanking Aubrey for being there and helping her get through the song.

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The next morning, Beca and Aubrey walked into the studio laughing together. Michael met them as they entered the building and asked if he could see Beca in his office privately. Beca looked at Aubrey with a creased brow and gave her a shrug before turning to him, "Ummm…sure. Anything I have to be worried about?"

Michael laughed, "No, no…nothing like that. I'd just like to discuss some things about some of the music and I thought it would go smoother and quicker if it were just us."

Beca shrugged again, "Aright then, let's go." She turned to Aubrey as she headed towards Michael's office, "Go ahead into the studio, we'll be right there."

While Aubrey turned towards the studio, Beca walked into Michael's office and closed the door behind her. She sat down and looked expectantly at the older man, "Ok Michael, what's this all about."

Michael stared at her for a second, "Alright Reggie, I've got something I want to play for you. Now, keep an open mind about it and I want you to listen to the whole thing before we discuss it." Beca nodded at him to continue. He turned and pressed play on the audio program on his laptop. Beca heard her song from yesterday start, but when the vocals came on it she heard a duet. The mix of Aubrey's soprano and her alto carried a vulnerable quality to it. She had never _really_ heard just their two voices together (just singing together to the radio) and now she couldn't believe she had waited this long to hear it. She could hear the emotions in both voices, just under the surface, barely contained and it added to the vulnerability of the song. She had always thought her and Chloe sounded good together, but this was on a different level all together. When the song finished, she had unshed tears in her eyes. Michael looked over at her with a knowing look, "Yah, that's how I felt when I finished it last night."

Michael gave her a few seconds to compose herself before he began his pitch, "I want to include that version of the song on your album and if it doesn't win a Grammy I'll give you back my percentage of the album." Beca looked at him shocked before he chuckled, "Ok, I wouldn't really give up my percentage, but I'm serious that this could be a Grammy contender and this one song alone should make your album go platinum. It's that good."

Beca nodded, "What do we have to do to make it happen?"

Michael informed her, "Well, the label will want to get Aubrey under some kind of contract. They could do a flat fee for singing or some kind of prorated contract for those songs she's on or they could just tell you to work out a deal paying her out of your percentage, splitting it like a normal duo or group would."

Beca got up from her seat, "I'll be right back." She quickly ran to the studio and motioned for Aubrey to come with her. Aubrey looked at her with a confused look but followed the small brunette to Michael's office. As Aubrey sat, Beca started, "Ok Bree, we would like to include you on the album, if you're ok with it." Aubrey looked like she was going to say something, but Beca continued quickly, "Before you say anything, I want you to hear something." She nodded to Michael, who started the song.

When the song finished, Aubrey just sat there with her mouth open. After a few moments she kind of shook herself out of her daze and looked at Beca, "Was that what we did yesterday?" Beca nodded with a big smile on her face. Aubrey gave her a smile filled with emotion, "Oh my God Beca, I had no clue we could sound like that."

Beca shook her head, "Neither did I Bree. But it sounds perfect and we would like to release that version of the song." Aubrey just smiled more and nodded vigorously. Beca looked relieved, "Ok, but that means that the label will have to have you under some kind of contract or agreement. Are you ok with that?"

Aubrey looked at her like she was crazy, "If it helps you out and gets that song on the radio, I'm more than ok with that."

Michael looked between the two with a knowing smile on his face before interrupting, "Well, before we start finalizing contracts I would like to propose something else." The two girls looked over at him as he continued, "I'd like to record the rest of the songs like we did yesterday, with both of you singing first and then just Beca singing them. I'll put both versions together and then Beca and I can listen to them both before deciding what to include on the album."

Beca looked at him with a concerned look, "Aubrey's only here through tomorrow. There's no way we can finish the rest of the songs by then."

Aubrey put her hand on Beca's arm and looked over at Michael, "Can we do a few songs now and then I'll try to work my schedule around to get back down here as soon as possible?"

Michael looked at Beca, who gave a slight nod, and then back at Aubrey, "Aright, I think we can make that work."

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It was late by the time the girls got back to the hotel room that night. Because of Aubrey's limited time in Atlanta they decided to put a few extra hours in. They only worked on the duets, figuring they could do the recording of Beca by herself while Aubrey had to be back at the retreat. The two girls crashed on their beds as soon as they walked through the door. Aubrey looked over at Beca, "Is it always like this?"

Beca laughed, "No, sometimes it's worse." Aubrey looked like she didn't believe the smaller girl, so Beca reminded her, "Remember I did all of this by myself on the first album, so yah, much worse."

Beca sighed and slid off of the bed, grabbing her pajamas and heading to the bathroom to brush her teeth and get ready for bed. When she finished, she jumped onto her bed and got herself settled sitting against the headboard while Aubrey got ready. She turned on the t.v. and found something mind-numbing to watch for a bit before bed. When Aubrey came out of the bathroom she walked over to Beca's bed, lifted Beca's arm and slid underneath it, wrapping herself around the smaller girl's body. She looked up at the brunette, "I hope you don't mind, but I've gotten a little used to this."

Beca pulled the blonde tighter against her, "Nope, I don't mind at all." After a few minutes, Beca quietly said, "You know, when I heard the song for the first time today I thought about how Chloe and I used to sing together. But here's the thing, it didn't hurt to think about it. Sure, there was a little ache but it didn't hurt to think about it." Aubrey's only response was to wrap her arms around her tighter.

Beca woke up to a tickle on her cheek. She swiped at it with her hand and brushed something against her face. She groggily opened her eyes as she felt a weight pressed against her and her arm fell around a body. She smiled as she realized that she was curled up against Aubrey's back and that her hair brushing over her face had woken her up. She looked at the girl sleeping peacefully next to her and thought she had this innocent look about her when she slept. At that moment, she realized how beautiful Aubrey actually was. The other girl started to stir, her hand grabbing Beca's arm and pulling it tighter around her body. Then she rolled over to face Beca, her eyes slowly opening, "Morning."

Beca smiled at her, "Morning."

Aubrey moved her mouth around, trying to wet it and get rid of the morning dry mouth, "I take it we fell asleep?"

Beca responded with a smirk, "Looks that way."

Aubrey pulled tighter against the brunette, pressing her head against Beca's shoulder, "Mmmm…it's nice waking up like this."

Beca just nodded against her head, agreeing wholeheartedly with the blonde.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Whew, I knew this would be a little longer so y'all need to thank me for spending a little extra time writing tonight to make sure I got it done before I went to bed.

Oh yah, I should give a reminder of the rating

Rating: M (for lemons)

Disclaimer: I do not own Pitch Perfect or Pitch Perfect 2.

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Beca flopped down onto the stool with a flustered sigh. It was only 10 a.m. and she was already ready to be done. All of these tedious changes and redoing small sections was getting tiring. She was starting to wonder how she got through the first album at all. She sighed, tipping her head back and admitted to herself that half the problem was that Aubrey wasn't here. She didn't know what the two of them had yet, but she could admit that she missed her when the blonde wasn't around.

Beca looked up in time to see an intern excitedly talking to Michael. She watched him smile at her and then pull the booth mic towards him. His voice rang through the speakers a moment later, "Let's take a break Reggie, it looks like you're not quite in the zone yet." Then he added cryptically, "Oh, and you should turn on your phone too."

Beca slid off of the stool and stretched her back, pulling her phone from her back pocket and turning it on. She walked out of the booth as it booted up and then wondered, "What the hell," as it let her know she had about twenty texts and three missed calls. She started to read the text messages, starting with Stacie's:

 **Stacie** : _Why won't you answer your phone? Are you too famous for us now that you've been nominated for three Grammys? Call me!_

Beca looked at her phone with a dumbfounded expression and then scrolled through the other texts, each one having to do with her apparent Grammy nominations. She had stopped walking just through the door into the booth and now she looked up to see a very grinning Michael staring at her. He nodded at her phone, "One of the interns just let me know about it. I thought you might want to find out from your friends."

Beca just nodded at him, still processing everything. Then she looked at the text messages again and then her missed calls; nothing from Aubrey was there. She looked back to Michael, "Can we take the day off, I've got to go tell someone in person."

Michael laughed and nodded, then yelled at her as she ran out of the room, "And congratulations Reggie, you deserve it." Beca threw a wave behind her as she bolted for the lobby.

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Aubrey walked back to her suite after her last session of the afternoon. She was tired and just wanted to put her feet up and relax, and talk to Beca. Aubrey wondered if she could risk calling the brunette early tonight and seeing if they could Skype. She turned the corner and saw Beca's car sitting there and her heart fell in her chest. She started muttering to herself, "Shit, shit, shit, not again." She pushed through Beca's door without knocking and when she didn't see the brunette in the living room she went straight to the bedroom. She gave a sigh of relief when there was no one there. She walked back across the suite with a little more control than when she came in and then opened her door to find said brunette swirling a wok around on the stove. Beca heard the door open and turned her head around to smile at Aubrey as she came in the suite, "Hey there, I hope stir fry is alright for dinner."

Aubrey just nodded with a confused expression on her face, "Umm..it's not that I'm not happy to see you, but what are you doing here?"

Beca nodded with her head to the table, "Sit. I'll tell you when this is done. Oh, and can you dish up the rice."

After putting some rice on their plates from the rice cooker, Aubrey sat at the table and watched the brunette finish cooking. Beca quickly finished and dished the hot food onto their plates. She set the wok back on the stove and turned back to the table, her smile getting even bigger. Aubrey looked at her, "Alright Mitchell, food's done now spill. What are you doing here?"

Beca's smile never faltered as she asked, "I just needed to find out when is the earliest I can get you back to Atlanta for a day."

Aubrey smirked, "You couldn't have called to ask?" Beca just shook her head. Aubrey sighed, "Well what's so important about getting me to Atlanta that you had to come all the way back here to ask me that?"

Beca took a step towards the table, "Well, I need to take you shopping."

Aubrey looked at her like she had gone crazy, "Wait, you actually want to go shopping? What's the occasion?" Then her mouth dropped into an 'O' as she thought about that and what day it was. She couldn't believe she forgot to check the website this morning. She looked up at Beca with happy tears threatening, "No!?"

Beca nodded at her, "We need to find dresses for the Grammys"

Aubrey shot out of her chair and flew to the smaller girl, her arms wrapping around her. Beca laughed as she returned the hug, feeling the rightness of it. Aubrey pulled back slightly, "Wait, you said 'we'."

Beca pulled her back into the hug, "You didn't think I'd take anyone else, did you?"

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The two months until the Grammys flew by for the two girls. They finished the album the week before the Grammy's with Aubrey making the cut on four of the tracks on the album. As the amount of time Beca needed to spend on the album decreased, the amount of time she spent helping Aubrey at the retreat increased. She ran sessions for almost every group that came through now, whether it be lectures or team-building exercises, Beca always tried to help with something. Beca stopped travelling to Atlanta unless Aubrey was going with because she could listen to tracks and give suggestions just as easily from the retreat as she could from the studio in Atlanta.

The girls spent every evening together; cooking, playing, relaxing, whatever suited their mood for that evening. They would find themselves tangled up, asleep on the couch more often than not and have to shuffle to their respective rooms in the middle of the night when they woke up. They could both feel the 'tension' developing between them, but neither girl was brave enough to do anything about it.

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The Grammy's finally arrived and the girls headed out to Los Angeles for the event. Beca figured this was a weekend to celebrate so she booked the two of them a two bedroom suite for the weekend. The afternoon of the event, the girls started getting ready. The label suggested a makeup artist and hairstylist for Beca to use, much to Beca's chagrin. She eventually agreed and they arrived early afternoon to take care of the two girls. When they were finally finished, the girls finished getting ready for the evening. When Aubrey came out of the bedroom in the black dress to ask Beca to help her with her zipper, Beca's jaw dropped. She walked over to Aubrey who had her back to her, her head tipped to the side with her hand on the back of her neck, and slowly pulled the zipper up, "Wow, you look beautiful Aubrey."

Aubrey turned around and gave her a shy smile taking in the sight of the brunette in the form fitting red dress, "Thanks, but I can't look half as good as you do in that dress." Beca just smiled at her and offered the blonde her arm.

The two girls arrived at the Staples Center in the car the label had sent for them. Beca slid out first and then reached back to help Aubrey out of the car. She offered her arm to the blonde and turned to smile at her, "Ready?" Aubrey just looked around at everything, trying to take it all in at once. She then turned to Beca and nodded.

Beca was thankful that she was technically still relatively unknown. This was her first album and first Grammy appearance so the reporters weren't swarming all over her. She did get stopped by a few reporters and photographers, though. The first one to catch her pulled her to the side to have the photographer take a few pictures of her and Aubrey. He asked a few questions about the album and then asked, "So, who is this lovely lady you are with?"

Beca turned to give Aubrey a smirk before turning back to the reporter, "Well, this is Aubrey Posen and you'll be hearing a lot about her real soon. I can't say any more than that right now. But I will say that I've known her for years, but this is our first actual date, so if you can make me sound cool in front of her that would be awesome."

The reporter turned to Aubrey with a smile, "So, your first date is to the Grammys, how does that feel?"

Aubrey slipped her arm from Beca's and slid her hand down to lace her fingers with Beca's, giving them a small squeeze, "Well, I told her that if she wanted me to go out on a date with her, she'd have to really impress me with our first date."

The reporter laughed, "So are you impressed?"

Aubrey looked around the red carpet area then back to the reporter, "She could have done better, but this will do."

Beca gave her a little shove with her shoulder, "Really Posen? How do I top this?"

The reporter chuckled as the two girls bantered back and forth, "I'll let you two go then." Beca nodded and thanked him, moving closer towards the entrance without letting go of Aubrey's hand.

They sat through the award show side by side. When the nominees for Best Record were read, Aubrey grabbed Beca's hand, holding it tightly. Beca wasn't surprised when she didn't win the award and Aubrey squeezed her hand in support, not letting it go when the winner was announced. When the nominees for Best New Artist were read, Beca sat forward in her seat and gripped Aubrey's hand a bit tighter. She tried to give a natural smile for the camera, but she was too nervous to do more than try. When the presenter read her name from the card she couldn't believe it and then she was being pulled to her feet as Aubrey stood to give her a hug. She didn't need to think in that moment. In her joy she just leaned up on her tip toes just a bit and gave Aubrey a light kiss. The two girls looked into each other's eyes for just a moment after the kiss and knew something had forever changed in that moment but it would have to wait for them to explore. Then Beca was making her way towards the stage to accept her first (and hopefully not last) Grammy.

It was a whirlwind after that. Beca didn't win for Best Album and given the stiff competition she was honored just to be mentioned in the same breath as them. The girls had no time to themselves for the rest of the evening. There were interviews and stars coming to congratulate Beca. Beca was expected to attend an after party thrown by the label and they were again surrounded by well-wishers all evening. Through it all, Beca never let go of Aubrey's hand for more than a few minutes. Aubrey had been her life-line when Chloe had left and now she was her life-line again, helping her to stay sane in this sea of people vying for her attention.

They finally got back to the suite at a little after 2 a.m. and they were beat. As they walked across the sitting room towards their bedrooms Aubrey stopped and turned her back to Beca so she could unzip her. Then she spun Beca around and lowered her zipper. Then she flicked her head towards Beca's bedroom, "Go get your pajamas on."

Beca yawned as she responded, "Yes mother," but she had a smile on as she headed to her room.

Aubrey walked into Beca's room about ten minutes later to find the brunette already under the covers. She walked over to the bed and Beca lifted the covers for her to get in. Aubrey snuggled her back against Beca as she felt Beca's arm wrap around her. She sighed as she cuddled in, "We should talk about us."

Beca sleepily responded, "Mmmhmmm, we definitely need to, but can we do it in the morning when we're both more awake?"

Aubrey pulled Beca's arm tighter around her, "Sure Becs. Now get some sleep." She heard the brunette's breathing even out before she said softly, "I'm so proud of you."

Beca mumbled "Thanks Bree," and she kissed the top of Aubrey's head.

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Beca woke the next morning in her favorite spot, wrapped around Aubrey. She sighed as she wrapped her arms tighter around the blonde hoping that last night was just the beginning of things to come between them. She kissed Aubrey's neck causing her to stir in her sleep. Beca felt Aubrey's hand slide up her wrist to her forearm, taking it and tugging it more tightly around her again. Then she heard Aubrey sleepily mumble, "Good morning beautiful."

Beca leaned over and kissed her cheek, "Good morning yourself, beautiful."

Aubrey turned in Beca's arms, wiggling around so that she didn't lose the feel of Beca's arms around her. She reached out and slid her arms around the brunette looking into her eyes. Beca reached up and pushed a stray lock of blonde hair off of Aubrey's face and tucked it behind her ear. She leaned in and brushed her lips over Aubrey's before pulling back slightly. Aubrey slid her hand up to slip around the back of Beca's neck and she gave just the hint of a pull towards her. Beca took the hint and leaned in, brushing her lips over Aubrey's again, this time taking her lower lip between her teeth for a second as she pulled back, earning her a low moan from the blonde. Aubrey pulled Beca to her this time, bringing the brunette's lips to hers as she tasted them again, her tongue flicking out to tease along Beca's lip. The two girls were in no rush, they took their time exploring and learning each other's lips, their hands moving along each other's bodies from their sides to running through their partner's hair.

Beca finally rolled over on top of Aubrey, straddling her waist. She sat up, pulling Aubrey up to her. She reached up and cupped Aubrey's jaw with her hands, leaning in to softly kiss her. She reached down and took ahold of Aubrey's hands, raising them above her head. She trailed her hands slowly down Aubrey's arms causing her to shiver. She slowly lifted Aubrey's camisole over her head and up her arms, tossing it gently to the side after removing it. Aubrey leaned in to kiss Beca again as she lifted Beca's t-shirt up her body. Beca took the material from Aubrey when she had reached as high as she could, removing the rest of the way herself. Aubrey then pulled Beca to her as she slowly lay back down on the bed, pulling her lips to hers and finally succumbing to the passion that had been building, slipping her tongue between Beca's lips and deepening the kiss.

Beca groaned into the kiss as her hands slid up Aubrey's sides. She cupped the blonde's breasts as their tongues fought for dominance. She gently rolled Aubrey's nipples between her fingers and thumb, causing them to become erect under her touch.

Beca broke the kiss, her breaths coming faster as she kissed down Aubrey's neck, shifting so she was straddling one thigh, her knee resting between Aubrey's legs. She started to slowly grind against her thigh as she rocked her knee against her blonde lover. She moved to Aubrey's ear, nipping the lobe lightly before trailing kisses back down her neck. She sat back up, her hands kneading Aubrey's breasts as her hips rocked, pressing herself against Aubrey's thigh. Aubrey reached up and cupped Beca's breasts in return, bringing her nipples to attention under her touch. The girls locked eyes as Beca ground against Aubrey, keeping her knee rocking against the blonde's core as her hips moved back and forth.

Beca slid slowly down Aubrey's leg, leaning down to trail kisses over her stomach. She hooked her fingers in the blonde's boxers, teasingly tugging them down her long legs. She kissed her way back up, tongue flicking out gently once she reached her inner thigh. Beca slid up between Aubrey's legs, tongue leaving a glistening trail up her inner thigh until she reached her goal. She spread Aubrey's lips with one hand as she lightly flicked her tongue over the blonde's clit, causing her to arch her back and groan. Beca licked over her clit with more pressure as she slid two fingers slowly into her. Aubrey started rocking her hips in rhythm with the thrusts of Beca's fingers. Beca's mouth kept up its assault on Aubrey's clit as she pushed her closer and closer to her release. Aubrey finally reached down and wrapped her fingers in Beca's hair, pulling the brunette's face tight against her as she rolled her hips one last time before her body tensed. She cried out Beca's name as her orgasm tore through her body. As Aubrey came down from her orgasm, Beca slowly kissed up her body before finally reaching her lips. She kissed the blonde softly, gently nibbling on her lower lip.

Beca was a little startled when Aubrey flipped her onto her back, mimicking her position from before, straddling the brunette's thigh. Aubrey took Beca's hands and pushed them above her head, holding her wrists with one hand. She leaned down and kissed her hard as she pinned the brunette down. She leaned back and looked in Beca's eyes as her hand slid down her body and under the waistband of her boxers. She kept her eyes locked on Beca's as she slid two fingers inside her, her thumb trailing over her engorged clit each time she thrust into the smaller girl. Beca closed her eyes and tipped her head back as she climbed closer to the edge. Aubrey whispered, "Look at me, I want to see you when you cum." Beca moaned at the blonde's words, her eyes snapping open and locking on the blue orbs of her lover. Her breaths started coming shorter and quicker as Aubrey worked her fingers faster, her thumb constantly rubbing over Beca's clit. Beca finally tensed with a strangled cry, her eyes never leaving Aubrey's.

Aubrey finally released Beca's wrists when she had finally come down from her orgasm, slipping along her body to wrap herself around the brunette. She leaned over and gave Beca a soft kiss before laying her head against her chest. When Beca had finally caught her breath, she ran her fingers lightly up and down Aubrey's back, "So, do we still need to talk about us or did that answer all of your questions?"

Aubrey playfully pushed Beca's side, "Yes we do, I need to know what you are thinking about us."

Beca sighed, "Fine, but you know I suck at this kind of stuff." That earned her another push to the ribs. Beca leaned down and kissed Aubrey before continuing, "Bree, you've been my best friend but lately it's been more than that. I have a hole in me when you're not around. My day gets instantly brighter when you are in it. I can't imagine my life without you in it. I've been slowly falling in love with you Aubrey and I'd love the chance to see where this will take us."

Aubrey looked up at Beca with tears threatening in her eyes, "I thought you said you sucked at that kind of stuff." She kissed Beca as she laughed. She lay her head back on Beca's chest, "I think I've been in love with you for a while now and I agree, we should see where this takes us."

Beca leaned down and gave Aubrey a sweet kiss. As she broke the kiss, she looked at Aubrey, "Ok now that we've got that settled, how about round two?"

Aubrey groaned, "Oh my God Beca, your incorrigible." But she was smiling as she finished and rolled on top of Beca, pressing her lips firmly against the brunette's.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: Enjoy and thanks for the wonderful reviews of the last chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything Pitch Perfect or PP2

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The two girls immersed themselves in their new found relationship. In the grand scheme of things, not much changed in their everyday lives. They still spent as much time with each other as possible. Their evenings were spent doing the same things they had always done. It was the 'little' things that changed. They no longer spent the night on opposite sides of the couch, with only an occasional night of 'cuddling'. When they passed each other during the day, there were touches, holding hands and soft kisses and smiles. The nights where they found themselves waking up at 2 a.m. in a tangled mess on the couch where they had dozed off watching something didn't end with them shuffling off to different rooms, but heading to the same room holding hands.

Two weeks after the Grammys, the label dropped the first single from Beca's new album. They decided to go with the first song Beca and Aubrey has sung together. The day of the release, Beca pulled Aubrey into her suite over lunch and had her sit down on the couch. She pulled up the recording of a New York radio station that she had gotten a hold of and let Aubrey hear their song being played for the first time on a radio station. Aubrey couldn't believe it, she was singing on the radio. She smiled at Beca with tears in her eyes. She had always loved singing with the Bellas, but because of her family had only considered to be a hobby. Now she was sitting here hearing her voice coming over the radio. It was like a dream come true, a dream that she never even knew she had. She pulled Beca into a tight hug, "I love you so much, thank you."

Beca kissed her girlfriend, "It was all you Bree. If you wouldn't have decided to come to L.A. to help me through things and then jumped into the studio to sing with me, this probably never would have happened. But I wouldn't change it for the world, you make my music so much better by being a part of it."

The song shot to number one on the charts within three weeks and stayed there for another four weeks. The second single released was a song featuring Beca by herself and it topped out at number five on the charts. The album release and third single were released on the same day. They chose another duet for the third single and again, it moved to the number one spot within a few weeks.

With the popularity of the new album, the label started talking about another tour. Beca was nervous about touring again, given what happened last time she did. So she sat down with Aubrey and discussed it. She sighed as she looked across the table at Aubrey, "They want me to do a summer tour."

Aubrey smiled and reached out to hold Beca's hand, "That's great Becs." Beca shrugged at her with a not so happy face. Aubrey frowned at her, "Ok, what's wrong?"

Beca sighed again, "I'm scared of leaving. You know what happened the last time I went on tour."

Aubrey sighed and moved around the table, pulling Beca's chair to the side so she could sit on her lap and wrap her arms around the brunette's neck, "Sweetie, I'm not Chloe. I'm not going to leave you just because your job takes you away from me for a few months."

Beca laid her head on Aubrey's shoulder, "I know that Bree, really I do. That doesn't change the fact that I'm scared. Besides, I don't know what I'll do if I have to be away from you for three months."

Aubrey smiled and kissed the top of her head, "Yah, I've kinda gotten used to you too."

Beca tipped her head back and looked at Aubrey with her best puppy dog eyes, "Then is there any way you can tour with me?" When Aubrey gave her a slightly skeptical look, Beca took that as an 'I'm not shooting it down right away' look and sat upright to look at her girlfriend, "I mean, think about it; we have four songs on the new album, two of which have already gone number one. They are going to want to hear those songs and who better to sing them with me than the original singer. We have the two other songs and the label wants to drop one of them sometime later this year as a single but they haven't decided which one. I'd pretty much have to do all of my songs to make a decent concert." Aubrey gave her a little glare at that. Beca sighed, "Ok, so maybe I'd have to do two thirds of the songs for a full concert. But we could still take a few of the songs from the first album out and throw in some covers that the two of us could sing…" she trailed off looking expectantly at her girlfriend.

Aubrey gave an exasperated sigh at her girlfriend, "What am I going to do with you Mitchell?"

Beca wrapped her arms around the blonde, "If you say yes, anything you want."

Aubrey laughed, "I might just take you up on that."

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The advantage to being the boss was that Aubrey could do what she wanted. The label had given Beca enough warning about the tour that Aubrey was able to figure out how to take three months away from the retreat. She promoted Linda, her second-in-command, to Camp Director and gave her full reigns of the retreat for the summer. She hired four extra people to make sure Linda had enough support for the time she and Beca were gone. It would tighten the retreat's budget, but the extra income from the tour would make up for it.

The tour wasn't all sunshine and rainbows for the two girls. Being stuck together in a cramped RV for three months is enough to put a strain on any relationship. But the two girls worked through it all, coming out even stronger at the end of the summer. When they finally got back to the retreat, the girls were relieved to be back home again.

About a month after getting back, Beca led Aubrey back to the kitchen table after they had finished their dinner dishes. Aubrey looked at her quizzically as Beca sat down opposite her. Beca looked nervous to the blonde and when she started talking, it became apparent she was, "Ummm…I have something I'd like to propose."

Aubrey's eyes got a little misty and she reached out for Beca's hands. Beca started to stutter, "Oh no baby, not that kind of proposal. When it's that proposal it will be a lot more special than this." Aubrey was a little dejected until she realized that Beca had said 'when'. The smaller girl got up and walked over to kiss the slightly flustered blonde before she continued, "This is a business proposal. I'd like to take the money from the last album and build a recording studio here at the retreat. We could use it so we wouldn't have to travel to Atlanta as often and I was thinking we could eventually put in a couple of nice suites near it and promote it as a place that other artists can come enjoy the activities of the retreat away from a big city and still do some recording."

Aubrey thought it over for a few minutes before carefully responding, "It's your money, so I don't have any issues with you wanting to build a studio for us to use here. Let me get my accountant to run some numbers on it to see how feasible it is as an actual business."

Beca gave her a smile, "That's all I can ask for."

It turned out that it wasn't a terrible investment to add the suites and rent out the studio and it could help Beca recoup some of the money she would be investing in the studio. Plus it would allow Beca to work as a producer with the artists that decided to use the facilities.

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The two girls decided to celebrate Christmas by themselves at the retreat instead of visiting family. The year had been pretty hectic for them and they wanted a little down time to themselves. Christmas Eve found the two of them in the kitchen, noses and cheeks covered with flour as they alternated between actually baking the sugar cookies and trying to wipe flour over their partner's face.

When Aubrey woke up Christmas morning, she found their bed short one occupant. The bed felt cold without Beca's body wrapped around hers. She slipped out of bed and out into the living room where Beca was sitting on the couch drinking her coffee and staring at their tree. Aubrey padded over to the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee before moving back to the couch. She kissed the top of Beca's head as she passed by her to sit next to her girlfriend. That's when she finally looked at where Beca was staring. Under the tree sat a pillow with a small box on top of it. Aubrey had only seen that box once in her life, but she recognized it immediately. She looked over at Beca with concern and found the brunette looking at her with a serious expression.

Aubrey started with a weak voice, "Why do you have those under our tree Beca?"

Beca gave her a warm smile, "Those are part of your Christmas present."

Aubrey started, "Why would you give me those for …"

Beca simply placed her finger over Aubrey's lips to silence her, "I hope it makes sense when I explain. Please let me get this out." Her eyes had a pleading look that Aubrey couldn't take seeing so she just nodded for the other girl to continue. Beca gave a single nod back, taking a breath to steel herself, "Those two items represent the only things I have left of my past. I know you hated that pillow because I would lose myself in it every time I got down instead of trying to push my way past the hurt. But I couldn't bring myself to let her go and the pillow was my safety blanket." Beca paused for a second before taking a deep breath and asking, "Did you even know I kept the ring?" Aubrey just shook her head. Beca sighed, "For the first few months I thought that she might come back, you know? So I kept it. I don't know what I would have done if she did come back." Beca paused to look at the ceiling as if thinking. She continued as she brought her head back down to look at Aubrey again, "But I've had time to think about things. Chloe and I were like a shooting star, big and bright and destined to burn out eventually. She forced her way past the defenses I had built up and while it felt good, it also felt forced. I couldn't believe anyone like that could have feelings for me. She was my first love, big and bold and larger than life, but when you look closely you see it was flawed and wasn't meant to last."

Beca paused before pointing at the two objects, "Those are my past and I'm done with my past. I'm not going to let my past rule me anymore. I'm giving you those so you can help me get rid of the last remnants of my past that are holding me back. I know you still worry about me slipping back into that past, I listened to you search my suite the afternoon I came home to tell you about the Grammys. Instead of the past, I want to focus on my future. You are my future. You didn't need to break down any of my walls, because I never put up walls for you to break. I've never feel like pulling back when you touch me or hug me. You have always just fit into my life, it's never been forced. I know we haven't always seen eye-to-eye, but I never felt like you didn't accept me for me. In fact because of that, I think you always expected more from me. You've always accepted me, flaws and all. I've always felt a connection to you, but in the past two years you've taken over my heart. My love for you didn't happen all at once, which can burn out, but it happened slowly, easing its way into my heart to make sure it filled every crevice. Every night when I walk through the door and see you it feels like I'm home. When I think of what makes me happy, I think of you. When I think of the thing that frustrates me the most, I think of you. When I think of what calms me the most, I think of you. When I think of my future, I think of you."

Beca reached behind her and pulled out a small box and opened it, "Aubrey, I love you with all of my heart, please say that you'll be my future."

Aubrey listened with rapt attention, her eyes tearing up as Beca talked. She was so proud of her girlfriend for moving on from her past. When she started talking about the future Aubrey's heart started beating faster. When Beca pulled out the ring, a simple princess cut solitaire, her breath hitched in her throat. She couldn't hold back the tears any longer. As they trailed down her face she looked at the woman she loved and nodded vigorously, "Yes Beca, oh God yes I'll marry you." She leaned over and pulled her fiancé into a deep kiss before sitting back and holding her left hand out.

Beca smiled as she pulled the ring from the box, holding it at an angle for Aubrey to see that there was writing along the inside of the band. As she slipped the ring onto her finger she told her what it said, "I had them put something on the inside of the band. It says 'You will always be my future'."

Aubrey pulled her into a hug as soon as she finished sliding the ring on her finger, "It's beautiful Beca."

The girls spent the rest of the day calling the Bellas and their families to let them know the good news. Beca's present to Aubrey sat under the tree for a few days and one day Beca noticed it was gone. She never asked Aubrey what she did with it, she really didn't care.

They got married in late August right there at the retreat in a small ceremony right next to the lake. Cynthia Rose stood with Beca and Stacie stood with Aubrey for their vows. Both women chose to wear white dresses although Beca refused to remove her 'ear monstrosities' for the ceremony or pictures. Although Aubrey teased her about it, she wouldn't have it any other way.

They recorded Beca's third album which was actually not a solo album any more. They started singing exclusively as a duo after Beca renegotiated her contract with the label. The album featured two songs where each of them sang essentially solo while the other sang backup with the other ten songs as duets.

So the two women spent their time alternating between running the retreat, recording albums and touring. There was never a dull moment and they wouldn't change anything for the world.

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A/N: Alright, there it is in all of it's glory. Still not quite happy with the Christmas monologue by Beca even after three rewrites, but I couldn't come up with anything to improve on it. Also not happy with the ending, I might end up writing a companion piece to give it a better ending…we'll see.

Remember to keep an eye on the epilogue titles depending on what you want to read about Chloe. Karma will not be a happy ending for Chloe or Jess (and no, Chloe and Aubrey do not remain friends in this one either), while Friends may or may not have Chloe/Jesse issues but Chloe resolves some things with Aubrey and Beca and they will at least be on speaking terms.

I don't know if I will do one of the epilogues tomorrow or work on one of my other active chapter fics ( as I'm not completely sure of the plot direction of either epilogue yet).


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